


You get me dizzy

by theboyfriendstagram



Series: festival AU (name TBA) [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: ?? - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Famous Harry, Festivals, Glitter, M/M, Meant To Be, Oh, Rock Stars, Shoulder Rides, Smut, TATTOOS!!!, Tattoos, and the rest you'll see :D, harry's shows are epic, louis gets caked in the face, louis is in the crowd of COURSE, louis with glitter on his face can u BELIEVE HOW PRETTY!!, maybe literally maybe not, of course there's shoulder rides, what else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-06 17:06:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17349188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theboyfriendstagram/pseuds/theboyfriendstagram
Summary: Harry is a rockstar headlining two nights at Coachella and Louis is an EDM festival goer who manages to sneak into the VIP area with his best friend. He never expected the plan to actually work but then again, neither did he expect to get irritated and tell off someone who would turn out to be the most expected act of the weekend.or a festival AU featuring face glitter, shoulder rides, and a lot of sarcastic remarks. (Also inspired bythis.)





	You get me dizzy

**Author's Note:**

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> please make sure to read the end notes after finishing in case you liked it :)

When Zayn suggested it a year ago, Louis thought he was joking. They could barely make rent as it is, but _that_ …that was insane.

“Eight _hundred_ pounds for a three-day festival? You’re fucking kidding me, right?” he asked after interrupting Zayn for the umpteenth time.

Zayn sighed. “Well, the tickets cost that much. With the plane and everything-“

“That’s how much a _ticket_ costs? I can barely make rent and you’re-“

“It’s VIP, Louis.” Zayn tried to reason, staring at him over his laptop.

Louis rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t mean anything to me.”

“Beyoncé, Imagine Dragons, The Script…. _,Coldplay_.” Zayn read from the screen, wiggling his eyebrows at Louis. “And if we get VIP tickets, we can meet them. Also, Steve Aoki?”

Louis leaned back into the couch, pursing his lips as he thought about it. Coldplay and The Script have been his all-time favorites since forever. And Steve Aoki is a must because Louis _needs_ to get cake in his face at least once before he dies. But a thousand pounds…maybe more? For the whole ordeal? He wasn’t sure if it was worth it.

“And how much would everything cost? With plane tickets, camping and everything?”

“I made a spreadsheet.” Zayn said and turned the laptop to show him the costs.

Louis shook his head. “Of course you did.” He looked at the screen. “So…a thousand-five hundred for everything, including drinking money.”

“And we’ve got one year to pull it all together. I’ve got some money now, I can buy the tickets and you’ll buy the plane tickets later and give me the difference.”

“Or…we could get normal tickets and maybe try and sneak in into the VIP area? How does that sound.” Louis suggested, because fuck him if he’d ever pay twice as much money just so he could get a photo with his favorite artists.

“Louis, it doesn’t work like that.” Zayn groaned.

“Um, may I remind you of Leeds 2015?”

“That was pure luck.”

Louis scrunched his nose. “No it wasn’t. All we have to do is wait for the security guard to look away and then we can sneak in. Trust me, we can do that.”

“What if we get caught? You know we’ll probably get kicked out of the entire festival, right?”

Louis huffed. “It’s either that or I won’t go. I can’t throw money away like that.”

Louis licked his lips, waiting for Zayn to answer. “Okay. Fuck, okay. We’ll do it like that.”

Now, fast forward one year, where he finds himself in the back of the LAX airport shuttle, trying to fight his way through the mass of people who are putting their luggage in the luggage compartment.

“Zayn ’m getting killed over here!” He shouts and looks around for a mop of black hair.

When he can’t find him, he pushes against a man who’s been shamelessly shoving at his back.

“No one wants to take their luggage onto the bus, I know, okay? But don’t fuckin’ push me.” Louis hisses at him and the man makes a face, stepping back.

Five minutes later Louis finally manages to shove his suitcase into the compartment and extract himself from the madness.

“How in the world…” he mumbles when he gets onto the bus and finds Zayn already in one of the seats, scrolling through his phone.

“There’s a compartment on the other side of the bus as well, but no one ever bothers circling to get to it.” Zayn explains as Louis drops down next to him.

“You got the tickets?” Zayn nods. “The tent?” Zayn nods. “The-“

“Just assume that I’ve triple-checked everything we need, okay?” Zayn says and pulls out his earphones from his pocket.

Louis rolls his eyes. “Fine.”

Zayn groans when Louis takes one earphone out so he can stick it into his own ear, but doesn’t fight it, because they’ve got a three-hour bus ride to the festival site and he’ll need all the rest he can get before the campers’ party tonight.

Louis closes his eyes as Zayn plays his Coachella playlist and smiles, happiness bubbling in his chest. Pre-festival feelings are the best.

***

The bus drops them off at the entrance so everyone can get their bracelets around 5pm that afternoon and Louis’ half-sleepy, half-excited. The jetlag had kicked in half an hour into the bus ride and even though he managed to sleep during their 12-hour plane ride and on the bus, he still feels like he needs a RedBull.

The queue for the General Access bracelets is infernal and Louis whines the whole time they wait in line until they finally get their bracelets and head towards the camping site.

“If I get you some RedBull and a cigarette will you promise to not whine once in the next four days?” Zayn pleads as they flash their bracelets to the security before they’re let in.

“Yeah.” Louis promises, like a liar.

They find their designated camping spot and Louis busies himself with folding out the chairs, hoping that Zayn is aware of the fact that he can’t be bothered with setting up the tent right now.

“Can you help?” Zayn bitterly asks when he sees that Louis already dropped down on one of the fold-out chairs and lit up a cigarette.

“I’m busy right now.”

“For fuck’s-“

“Hi, need help?” someone asks and they both turn their heads to see a guy walking over with a smile on his face. He extends his hand to Zayn first. “’m Niall. I overheard your northern accent and I had to come say hi.”

“Ireland?” Zayn asks, shaking his hand.

Niall nods and then walks over to shake Louis’ hand.

“I’m over there with some mates, the big tent. Also wanted to apologize in advance for any future disturbances since we’re going to be neighbors for the next few days.”

Louis looks up at him over his sunglasses. “What disturbances?”

“Y’know…loud music and yelling, the lot.” Niall explains, placing his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, we don’t mind.” Louis assures him by waving his hand. “We’re pretty loud ourselves.”

Niall looks between the two of them. “Oh! How long have you two been together?”

Louis and Zayn stare at each other for a second before they burst out laughing.

“We’re not-“ Zayn starts, at the same time as Louis says, “He _wishes_.”

“Oh, sorry.” Niall says and laughs along with them, then turns to Zayn. “Let me help you.”

Louis watches them as they struggle to put the tent up.

“Can you believe their stupid rule of one case of beer per person?” Louis asks and stares at the two cases of beer him and Zayn have brought.

Niall turns to look at him from where he’s struggling to get the legs of the tent into the ground. “We’ve got that covered.” He says in a low voice before he yells at someone from his camping spot. “Oi, Shawn mate, come over a bit. Bring the fake tent!”

A guy materializes out of Niall’s giant tent and smiles as he walks over with a rolled up tent in his hands.

“What’s a fake tent?” Zayn asks.

“This.” Shawn answers and unravels the ‘fake tent’, only to reveal that there are about five different types of liquor bottles tightly bundled up in some polyester fabric.

“That’s genius.” Louis says, filled with respect. “Niall mate, I think we’re going to be best friends.”

Niall laughs and then focuses back on the task at hand as Louis goes through his second can of beer for the day.

Their tent is finally set up around 6pm and Louis thinks it’s time for a shower before the ‘camping party’, as he heard people call it. The showers are public and Louis chooses the last shower because he thinks they’re always the cleanest.

Two hours later he finds himself on a fold-out chair in someone else’s camping spot, with music blaring loudly from a few yards away.

There’s a girl who’s been trying to chat him up ever since he arrived and Zayn disappeared somewhere about half an hour ago. Louis isn’t really feeling it right now, because she’s coming on too strong but she’s pretty. Her way of talking reminds Louis of his ex girlfriend, but her eyes remind him of his ex boyfriend, which is weird, and the fact that he’s a bit tipsy is not helping at all.

“Who are you here to see?” she asks him, and Louis finally feels like he’s interested in the conversation.

“I came here for the EDM, mostly.” He answers. “You know, Aoki, Kygo, Alan Walker.”

“So you’ll be spending a lot of time at the Outdoor stage then.” She concludes and Louis shrugs. He hasn’t really paid much attention to the festival layout.

“Probably. Who are you here to see?”

“Oh…Coldplay is nice. But I came for Styles.”

“Who?”

She makes a face. “Aren’t you from England?”

“Yeah, so?” Louis asks. What the fuck is she on about?

“He’s from England. He’s an indie...ish singer.”

“Ah. I don’t like indie, so. Also, I’m not a big fan of those tiny stages in tents.”

She laughs then and Louis frowns, because he’s not sure which part of what he just said was so funny.

“What?”

“He’s not-he’s a headliner. Plays the Coachella Stage tomorrow and on Sunday.”

“Two weekends in a row?”

“No, two times in one weekend.” She answers, looking at Louis like he used to look at his grandparents when they asked him about technology. He might be 26 but he’s not _that_ old.

“Well, I’m not interested in hearing him play, to conclude this conversation.”

She loses interest in Louis after that, who sets out on a mission to find Zayn.

He finds him a few tents away, chatting to Niall and one of his friends who Louis hasn’t seen around here before.

“Hi lads.” He says and pulls his white shirt down before extending his hand out to the new guy. “Louis.”

“This is my mate Liam.” Niall says and pats the guy on the back, just as he was about to shake Louis’ hand.

“Liam.” The guy answers and smiles, squeezing Louis’ hand. He’s got a VIP badge around his neck and Louis thinks (just for one second) to grab it from him and run away. It might make their job for the next two days a lot easier.

“Didn’t know they were giving out necklaces instead of bracelets this year.” Louis says, making conversation.

“They don’t, I work with one of the performing artists.”

Would it be too weird to ask for an extra pass? Probably. So Louis just settles on nodding and making conversation about last year’s festival.

Two hours later Louis’ drunk out of his mind and almost gets into a fight with someone who makes a mean joke about people who come here for EDM, so Zayn thinks it’s time to go back and get some sleep. After all, the first act starts at 11am.

***

Louis’ never been wired to wake up before noon on Fridays (or any day for that matter), since his job always starts after 1 or 2pm, and that’s why Zayn has to shake him awake.

“You sleep like a fucking log.” Zayn says and Louis flips him off before he turns on the other side to get more sleep.

“Louis, I swear to God. There’s an act I want to see at half past three.”

“Go alone.”

“I can’t. You’ll forget to lock up.”

“Lock up what? Our tent?” Louis mumbles, trying his hardest to focus on going back to sleep.

“Yes!? You weren’t listening when I explicitly told you that I got a lock for the zippers? Louis…”

“Go with Niall.”

“He’s already at the festival, waiting for us.”

Louis dramatically groans and wipes his eyes before he stretches and finally sits up in his sleeping bag.

“Fine.”

He searches through his suitcase for some clothes as Zayn lays out today’s schedule.

“Imagine Dragons play at 9pm, and before that there’s Alan Walker on at six.”

“Who plays at three then?” Louis asks and smiles when he finds what he was looking for. A white shirt (a different one from last night, mind you), paired with a green jacket and some black skinnies.

“SZA does.”

“Do you think I should take my black or my green Vans?” Louis asks Zayn as he grabs his toothbrush. He knows Zayn’s going to lose it soon.

“Lord help me if you don’t-“ Zayn starts, frustrated, and Louis laughs as he ducks out of the tent and out of the way from whatever it is Zayn just threw in his direction.

He showers quickly, brushes his teeth and dresses up, before he throws a last look at himself in the mirror and bolts out of the showers.

Zayn is waiting by their tent, and after Louis throws his pyjamas inside, he locks up.

They don’t have to wait in line today because they already have their bracelets, and by the time they’re inside the festival grounds, Louis’ mood shifts.

“We’re at fucking Coachella Zayn!” he tells his best friend, shaking his shoulder in excitement. “First drink’s on me.”

Zayn smiles at that, completely forgetting how Louis annoyed him just minutes ago.

They get Gin and Tonics and then walk toward the stage where they’re supposed to meet up with Niall and the rest of the group.

They’re greeted with loud cheers and pats on the back, and there’s a cup of beer in Louis’ hand, followed by Niall saying that they need to drink it all in one go ‘because it’s tradition’. What’s he going to do? Say no to free beer?

“Where’d you get that?” Louis asks when he sees the VIP badge around Niall’s neck, that wasn’t there the previous night.

“Liam gave it to me. We’ve been friends since Uni and all that. UCL graduates, Music Engineering.”

“You went to London to study?”

They start up a conversation about how hard it was for them to get a spot in the student’s dorms a few years ago, and how Louis graduated with a degree in Psychology but ended up taking on a completely different career path.

They watch SZA as they sit down on the grass and Louis thinks he’s really glad Niall came up to them and offered to help them with their tent because (1) otherwise there would be no tent for them to sleep in and (2) he wouldn’t have had so much fun until now.

***

It’s past 5pm when SZA finishes and Niall lets them know that he’ll drop by the VIP area to say hi to Liam. The rest of the group goes back to the camping grounds to get some drinks, so Zayn and Louis are faced with a dilemma. Now, Louis’ never been one to shy away from uncomfortable situations, and today is no different.

He places a hand on Niall’s shoulder and leans in. “I’ve gotta ask you something.”

Niall’s face turns serious and Louis looks around before he continues.

“Can you distract the security guard so Zayn and I can sneak into the VIP area?”

Niall stares at him for a second. “Hahha yes I can.”

Louis’ whole face lights up and he steps back. “You’re the best.”

Niall points at him and nods in agreement before they head over to the VIP entrance. He motions for someone to come over to him and soon enough, Liam appears and walks over to them.

Niall explains the situation to him and Liam smiles, eyes crinkling, before he takes Niall over to the security guard and starts up a conversation with him.

“This is it.” Louis says and takes Zayn’s hand. “This is it.” he repeats.

Zayn shakes his head. “I’m going to throw up.”

“Do it in there then, I’m sure they’ll clean it up in no time.”

Zayn’s smile is everything Louis needs before he pulls him along. His heartbeat gets stronger with every step he takes towards the entrance and he makes sure his sleeves cover his wrists so the green of the General Access bracelet won’t show.

Two more steps, one more step and…they’re in.

Louis lets go of Zayn’s hand and walks quickly as far away from the entrance as possible.

“We fucking did it, I told you.” Louis tells him as he does a little dance.

It’s not a whole other world in the VIP area per se, except of the fact that there’s a lot more seats, beanbags, people with blue bracelets and an open bar.

“You fucking idiot.” Zayn laughs, looking around.

“Told you we shouldn’t pay twice as much.” Louis tells him. “And as per usual, I was right.”

“Don’t take the fun out of it by rubbing it in my face.”

Louis laughs. “That’s something I never thought I’d hear you say out loud.”

Zayn flips him off and follows him over to the open bar.

Louis licks his lips as he looks down at the menu on the bar. “A gin and tonic please. A lot of gin, very little tonic.”

The bartender laughs as she starts preparing the drink and looking at Zayn, waiting for him to order. Zayn orders the same thing of course, and they decide to drink it all in one go.

She’s obviously impressed by their skill of drinking an entire drink in less than ten seconds, so she doesn’t even hesitate to make them another one.

“Man, I don’t know, I don’t want to get drunk.” Zayn says, chickening out when the glasses are being placed in front of him.

“I’ll just take these then.” Louis tells him and takes the cups, one in each hand, before he turns around to look for Liam and Niall. He’s sure Niall will be a team player and take one of the drinks off his hands.

Zayn’s disappeared again and Louis finally locates him at one of the tables in the corner. He grips into the cups even harder so they won’t spill over and makes his way towards them.

On his way to their corner he’s eyes and ears just in case he can spot Chris Martin.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts when he stumbles upon a small group of people blocking his way to the guys. He finds a small space between the two tables, but there’s someone blocking it as well, because they’re too engrossed by their phone.

“Excuse me, can you move?” Louis asks, staring at someone’s back.

The guy ignores him and Louis huffs. This fucking guy, he swears. The drinks occupy his hands so he nudges the guy’s right ankle with his Vans. This time the guy turns around and bends his head down to look at Louis over his sunglasses.

 _Green_ , Louis thinks. Then, _this guy, what the fuck._

“You’re in my way.” Louis tells him and blinks up at him.

The guy smiles and licks his lips, pulling his head back so Louis can’t see his eyes anymore.

“Are you deaf?” Louis asks, cocking his head in annoyance.

The guy crosses his arms, biceps bulging out through the soft pale pink blouse he’s wearing, rolled up to his elbows. “No.” he finally answers in a deep voice and Louis is taken aback.

This guy’s wearing a fucking pink blouse that shows off his tattoos and turquoise trousers and he’s got one of the deepest voices Louis’ ever heard. He wasn’t expecting that.

But the fact that he’s an asshole kind of ruins the whole allure. If he even had one to begin with. Sure, his hair is a bit pulled back and the fingers he’s gripping his cup with have rings on them, which make his hands seem even bigger than they are, but still. He’s not…he’s not.

“Then can you move?”

“You’re that guy’s friend.” He states and Louis wants to scream. “The dark-haired one.” This guy’s English, of course.

“So?”

“Is he-“

“Listen pal, I don’t have time to play matchmaker for you, alright? Now _move_.”

This guy is having none of it. What an asshole.

“Thanks.” he laughs.

“What?”

“I think you might’ve voiced your thoughts out loud.”

Who talks like that? What the fuck. This guy’s too much right now.

“I don’t really give a shit.” Louis kindly smiles and takes a sip out of one of the drinks.

“I’m Harry.” he says, extending his hand.

Louis looks down at his hand, then at his occupied ones, then up at him. “You’re joking, right?”

“No, I’m Harry.”

Oh, he also thinks he’s funny.

“Did I ask, or?”

“Need help?” The guy asks, pointing to the drinks.

“No, thanks. I just need you to move so I can get to my friends.” Louis informs him and nods over to Zayn, who’s watching him now.

“Oh, I thought we were having a moment.” He sarcastically says.

Louis purses his lips at him and raises his eyebrows, standing still. The guy finally shakes his head and smirks as he moves aside so Louis can squeeze between him and the group blocking his way.

“Thanks for your efforts.” Louis huffs and turns to the side so he can slide through the small gap. He brushes the guy’s chest with his own as he does so, and realizes that he smells like cigarettes and really good perfume. Louis hates him already.

“You spilled your drink.” He tells Louis, who’s already taken a step towards his own group.

Louis looks over his shoulder to look at Harvey’s (??) shirt, which sports a tiny stain on his right pectoral. He rolls his eyes before he turns his head and keeps walking towards Zayn.

He hands Niall one of the drinks, which is gladly received, thank you very much, before he sits down on the empty chair next to Zayn.

“Do you know who you were talking to?” Zayn asks in an amused tone.

“Apparently they’re letting anyone in here, that guy was an asshole. I mean the ego on him was just…wow.”

Niall’s laughing now and Liam is shaking his head, smiling.

“Did you get his name?” Zayn asks.

“Of the flamingo dude? Harvey or something.”

Niall’s actually choking at this point, banging his fist on the table and throwing his head back.

“It’s not funny at all, this guy was a mess. Like an ego with legs.” Louis continues. “Tried to ask me about Zayn, can you _believe_?!”

Niall dry heaves and closes his eyes. Louis shakes his head and looks at Liam, who’s looking at something over his head.

“What?” Louis asks and turns around to see what Liam’s looking at, only to be met by a pale pink silky shirt.

Niall dies.

 _Fuck_.

“Already gushing about me to my friends I see.” Harvey says and cocks his head, shooting a sweet smile in Louis’ direction. “How cute.”

“Fuck off.” Louis mumbles and turns around. And hold up, his friends?

“This is Harry, my mate.” Liam explains and laughs as Harry sits down on the last empty chair next to him.

“Yeah, we’ve met.” Harry says and leans back into the chair.

 _Those yellow glasses make him look ridiculous_ , Louis thinks. He doesn’t say it though.

He sips on the straw as Zayn’s fake ass makes conversation with Harry, talking about music and who they’re most excited to see this weekend.

“Alan Walker’s on in ten minutes.” Is the first thing Louis says since Harry’s sat down at their table.

“Oh, yeah.” Zayn says and shakes his head. “Forgot about him.”

“And still, one year later, you haven’t gone to the gym so you can give me a shoulder ride during ‘Alone’.” Louis says and shakes his head.

“I could give you one if you want.” Liam offers and Louis beams at him.

“Uh, actually that won’t work.” Harry interrupts. _Who the fuck does he think he is??_

“Oh, shit, yeah. Sorry Louis.” Liam says, looking at Louis and he genuinely seems sorry.

“I’ll come with you to Alan.” Niall chimes in, rising from the dead. “And then we’ll meet you at the Coachella Stage at half past seven?” he asks Liam, who nods.

“Imagine Dragons plays at nine, right?” Louis asks, which earns him four nods from the table. “Good, because I want to get as close to the front row as possible.”

Louis rolls his eyes when he sees Harry smirking at him as he stands up.

“Wipe that smirk off your face.” He mumbles and waits for Zayn and Niall to stand up as well.

“What?” Harry asks.

“Have a great time.” Louis answers, shooting him a fake smile, and then turns around to lead the way out of the VIP section. Thank God that’s over.

***

When Harry Styles woke up on that Friday morning, the first thing he did was to make sure that the guy he spent last night with was gone from his hotel room. There’s a note on the bedside table with a phone number and a ‘call me’ under it.

He leaves it there and goes to take a quick shower before he has to leave for the press conference at 3pm.

A car is there to pick him up half an hour later, after he made sure he instagrammed a photo of the view from his hotel room, looking over the golf course right next to the festival, tagging it with the proper location.

The press conference goes as it usually does, questions about what he’s expecting from the festival, which song he looks forward to performing the most, and if he’s got any groupies in the crowd. He shakes his head at that question, because it’s one of the most frequently asked questions and interviewers never learn. Everyone expects him to have groupies, what with being an ‘indie rockstar’ and all, and even though that _might_ be true, it’s not something he wants the whole world to know.

He arrives at the festival together with Liam, his best friend and also one of his producers, around 4pm, and they manage to sneak in through the VIP entrance without being spotted by any fans.

Harry gets himself a Rum and Coke from the open bar and goes to say hi to everyone he already knows in the VIP area, as he usually does, losing Liam along the way. He catches the eye of someone by the bar, one of the prettiest guys he’s ever seen in his life. He’s got black hair and tattoos, and he’s smiling at his friend in the green jacket.

Someone tugging at his shirt, asking for a photo, interrupts Harry’s train of thought, so he looks away, ready to engage in some conversation with his fans. He texts Liam ten minutes later, after he just finished a conversation with a group of fans.

**Where are you?**

The text doesn’t come as soon as he’d like, and there’s someone nudging his ankles, so he turns around. There’s a guy standing there, and scratch that. _This_ is the most beautiful guy Harry’s ever seen. He’s shorter than Harry and looks very annoyed.

 _Blue_.

“You’re in my way.” The guy tells him and even though he’s irritated, he’s got one of the softest voices Harry’s ever heard.

After exchanging snarky remarks and comments, the guy leaves Harry completely intrigued because (1) the guy had no shame to voice his thoughts and (2) because he didn’t even know who Harry is, which is extremely refreshing.

He smirks when he sees that the guy just sat down with Liam and Niall, another one of his oldest friends.

_This should be fun._

***

Alan Walker finishes just in time for Louis, Niall and Zayn to get to the Coachella Stage before 7:30pm, and Louis is pumped up. And maybe a little past tipsy. Okay, way past tipsy, but not entirely drunk. His speech is just a bit slurred. The sun has already started to go down and it’s getting a bit chilly, but Louis can’t even feel it.

There’s one more performance before Imagine Dragons come on stage, and Louis had no idea people would be _this_ excited to see them, seeing as they made it just in time to get a good view of the stage. They’re on the left side of the stage, three rows of people away from the front row, and looking behind him, Louis can see that a giant mass of people have gathered behind them, _so many_ people that he can’t even see where the crowd ends.

“Whoa, big crowd.” Louis observes and looks down at his beer. Thank God he was wise enough to go to the bathroom and get some beer before, because there’s no way he’ll get out of this crowd until the show ends.

“Yeah, people are really excited to see him. That’s why he’s got two shows this weekend. Friday passes sold out almost instantly so they put him on Sunday as well. Sold out. Next weekend too.” Niall tells him and Louis makes a face.

“Who are you talking about?” Louis asks and turns with his back to the stage.

Niall laughs, not answering, and Zayn shakes his head, telling him to pay attention.

The lights go out at exactly 7:45pm and everyone screams, bursting Louis’ eardrums. Girls are starting to surface from the crowd as they’re lifted on shoulders and a lot of banners are put up.

Louis turns to face the dark stage, only lit by two words in fluorescent blue. Harry Styles, it reads, with an anchor in the middle. Louis’ mind drifts to that girl he was chatting to yesterday, and how she must be somewhere in the crowd right now.

The screens light up then, and there’s an animation of two hands with rings on them playing with a Rubik’s cube. It ends after a couple of minutes, and the whole thing does black again.

There’s silence. Then an electric guitar chord rings through the speakers and everyone screams again.

“She worked her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes!” a raspy voice screams, and everyone loses their shit even more. Louis makes a face and takes a sip from his beer.

The beat is cut out, and then light engulfs the stage. There’s a dark silhouette standing in the middle with a smoky background, holding an electric guitar.

“Good evening Coachellaaaa!” the guy screams, deafening Louis for eternity.

The lights shift to reveal him, finally. He’s wearing checkered trousers and a white blouse rolled up to his sleeves, hair pulled back and curls fanning his face and-

“Hold on a second.” Louis says, mouth falling open as he turns to look at Niall. “Is that-“

Niall laughs. “Yeah.”

“Shit.”

So Louis might’ve trash-talked the most important act of the festival just hours prior. That still doesn’t mean Harry Styles isn’t an asshole though. Who would’ve thought that the flamingo dude is actually an ‘indie rockstar’ (as the girl put it last night), filling out giant venues? Louis definitely wouldn’t have, not in a million years.

“How’s everyone feeling tonight?” Harry asks, looking through the crowd, who goes crazy at his words.

Louis looks up at the screen to his left, where Harry’s face is displayed in hd.

“I see some signs there, but I’m going to get to that later.” Harry says into the microphone and laughs, earning yet another round of screams.

His band starts with a beat and Harry makes sure to start walking to the other side of the stage, blowing kisses to everyone until he gets to Louis’ side. He doesn’t spot them because he’s looking into the crowd before he goes back to the mic stand and grips into the guitar around his neck.

“Coachella are you reeaaaadyy?” he screams, closing his eyes.

He waits for everyone’s screams to die down and signs over to the band. The same chords as before come through the speakers and he repeats the first line he sung about a cheap pack of cigarettes.

And the crowd goes wild, singing along to every single word.

Louis watches the screen, not really sure if he should be laughing about the fact that this guy got on his nerves just a few hours ago or about the fact that he’s singing about a girl who told him she thinks she’s having his baby.

He sings three more songs Louis isn’t really paying attention to, even though he hates to admit the fact that they’ve got a good beat and his voice is…wow.

At one point during his fifth or sixth song, Louis starts jumping along with Niall and inevitably spilling beer over the people in front of him, which earns him dirty looks.

The music stops and the crowd dies down, which means that Louis also stops jumping around and looks up at the screen.

Harry wipes his face with the back of his hand and smirks as he looks into the crowd, sending everyone into a frenzy.

Okay, he doesn’t look _that_ bad, but still. He’s an asshole. And half of the people here probably don’t even know it.

“Are you having fun?” Harry asks and removes the mic from the stand before he grabs the wire and starts walking towards the edge of the stage. The crowd cheers as a reply to his question.

“There’s a couple in the crowd there who’s been making out since my first song. How are you guys doing?” Harry asks, pointing down at someone in the middle. He leans over as he listens. “You’re good? Are you enjoying the show? I’m glad.”

He looks through the crowd again and points at something. “Can I just read you this sign? I’ve seen it since I came on stage. It says ‘Harry, praying isn’t the only thing I do on my knees’.”

Laughter erupts around Louis, who shakes his head.

“May I ask, what else are you doing on your knees?”

Louis’ phone rings then, and he turns his head away from the stage. It’s Lottie.

“What?” he yells into the phone so she can hear him and places a finger against his other ear, accidentally spilling a little bit of beer on himself.

“I saw you on the livestream!” she yells back and Louis looks around until he finds the cameraman.

“And?”

“And you’re drunk as fuck!”

Louis laughs as he listens to her talking about how jealous she is that she’s not there.

“I’m sorry, I have to stop the show, someone’s on their phone.” Louis hears and his head snaps up towards the screen to see Harry looking at someone off stage. Then he turns to look at Harry, who, dear God, is looking right at him with a smirk on his face.

“LOUIS OH MY GOD!” Lottie screams into the phone.

Harry crouches down at the edge of the stage, right in Louis’ line of vision. “What’s your name?” comes through the speakers and Louis is on the big screen now. Even though he’s not looking at it, he can tell with the corner of his eye. He rolls his eyes and flips Harry off, who laughs at that.

“Who are you calling?” Harry asks and everyone in front of Louis turns to look at him. (Niall’s dying again.)

“My sister!” Louis yells.

“Your sister? What is she saying?” Harry continues and Louis has to take the phone away from his ear because Lottie is hyperventilating now.

“None of your business!” Louis screams back and Harry laughs. The girls in front of Louis look at him open-mouthed.

“What’s her name? Is she watching?”

Louis nods.

“What’s her name?” Harry repeats the question.

“Lottie.” He says and repeats it again, louder this time, when Harry makes a confused face.

“Lorry?” Louis shakes his head. “Lottie?” Louis nods.

“Well then.” Harry smirks and licks his lips before he stands back up and looks into the crowd. “Give it up for Lottie!”

‘Call ended’ flashes on the screen as the crowd roars and Harry walks back to the mic stand.

“This is one of my favorite songs to perform.” Harry says and strums on his guitar. “Sing along if you want.”

 _What an asshole,_ Louis thinks as the girls turn back around to face the stage.

It’s a slow song, and Harry starts it with a raspy “Just stop your crying it’s a sign of the times.”

Louis knows this song. He’s heard it on the radio a hundred times while he was at work, so he mouths along to the song.

The whole festival sings along, and during the chorus, when Harry stops singing to hear everyone instead, Louis gets goosebumps. Harry looks at him then, catching his eye as the crowd sings, and Louis makes a face at him, which earns him a smile. The screen shows it all, and that’s when Louis notices the dimples.

“For fuck’s sake.” He mutters under his breath as he lights up a cigarette.

Harry sings two more songs after that and waits for the crowd to quiet down so he can announce his last song.

“My time is running up now, but we have time for one more song.” He pauses and grips into the mic stand before he picks it up and moves it further to the left side of the stage, closer to where Louis is. He takes the guitar from around his neck and walks to put it down before he comes back. “Now, this song doesn’t have a studio version, but I’m sure you can sing along.”

He winks into the camera, causing a massive meltdown, and then points over to the drummer. The music starts and Harry smiles into the microphone. “This song is called Medicine.”

Everyone screams, including Niall and Zayn, who Louis seems to have completely forgotten were even there. Harry visibly cracks his knuckles and his neck before he does a little dance and then grips into the microphone.

“Here to take my medicine, take my medicine, treat you like a gentleman.” Harry sings and okay, he just looked at Louis. The girls in front of him seem to think that he looked at them, because they jump even higher and scream the lyrics even louder.

The song continues and Louis actually pays attention to the lyrics because they’re fucking _obscene_.

“I’ve had a few, got drunk on you, and now I’m wasteeed.” Harry sings and fucking grinds against the mic stand, and now that image is embedded in Louis’ brain forever. “And when I sleep I’m gonna dream of how you…”

“TAS! TED!” everyone screams before they go off.

The song is clearly about sex and Louis actually loves it. Might be his favorite one yet.

At one point close to the end of the song when the instrumental plays, Harry drops to his knees and sticks his tongue out while moving his head, and the fact that everything is displayed on the big screen isn’t doing Louis’ ears any good.

“If you go out tonight, I’m going out ‘cause I know you’re persuasiiive.” Harry sings and then lets the crowd do the singing as he stands up. “We’re getting dizzy, oh, getting dizzy, oh…”

Louis watches him on stage, dancing like he doesn’t give a fuck about anything, and by the time the song is finished, he’s staring out into the crowd with a content smile on his face, sweat dripping down his temples that have his hair stuck to them.

Harry looks at Louis then, licking the corners of his mouth.

“Coachella, you were amazing!” Harry screams, taking a bow. “See you on Sunday!”

Then the lights go off and it’s over.

Louis turns to Niall, who’s already smiling like he knows something Louis doesn’t.

“Are you serious.” Louis says and then looks over Niall’s shoulder to see that a lot of people are scattering now.

“You flipped him off on screen. What a legend.” Niall laughs, throwing his head back.

The beer in Louis’ hand has gone stale now, so he makes a face as he drinks it all.

“I’m going to see Harry backstage now. You want to come?” Niall asks the two of them.

Louis shakes his head. “I came here for Imagine Dragons, so. No.”

Zayn tells Niall that they don’t even have backstage passes anyway, so Niall promises they’ll meet up after their show for some drinks, before he disappears into the crowd.

The girls in front of Louis leave as well, and soon enough he’s against the barrier in the front row, smiling at Zayn.

“Did you know he was an artist?” Louis asks him.

“Yeah. I know who Harry Styles is.”

“Of course you do, you’re an indie fan.”

“He’s not…not entirely indie.” Zayn argues. “But everyone _knows_ him, I mean, he’s Harry Styles.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Because you only listen to EDM. And bands.”

Louis shrugs and asks the security guard in front of him for some water. The number of guards has been cut down to half compared to what it was during Harry’s performance.

Imagine Dragons start playing at 9pm sharp and Louis films everything he can while he tries to live in the moment as well. During Rise Up, he spots Harry, Liam and Niall coming out from the side of the stage to watch it as well, and the people next to him freak out when they see him, motioning for him to come over and take photos.

Harry spots Louis from where he’s filming the show up-close and smiles, before pocketing his phone and walking over. He’s got sunglasses on, even though it’s dark outside, and the people next to Louis immediately ask him for a picture, so their conversation is delayed.

Once they’ve calmed down, Harry finally places an elbow on the barrier, between Louis’ arm and the arm of the guy who just asked for a picture, and leans on his side against it, with his back to everyone but Louis.

“Did you enjoy the show?” Harry asks and places a hand on his left hip before linking left ankle with his right and bending his knee.

“It’s not over yet.” Louis informs him, just as Dan Reynolds finishes the song.

Harry lets out a breath through his nose and shakes his head. “I know you know what I meant.”

“And I know you know that I know what I meant.” Louis says, executing the retort in perfect manner, which is really unexpected since he’s kind of off his face.

Harry doesn’t say anything nor does he move at all, so Louis sighs. “Yeah, it was nice. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“I saw your face when I came on stage. Priceless.” Harry says and throws his head back as he laughs at the memory.

“Are you quite finished? I’m trying to watch this.”

“You shit yourself.” Harry continues to tease and Louis’ kind of had enough. The guy next to him and his friends are watching them intently right now, subtly filming because they think it will go unnoticed and?? Louis hates it.

“I need to tell you a little secret.” Louis says and Harry raises his eyebrows over his sunglasses, leaning closer. Louis presses his lips to his ear.

“These people are filming everything. So unless you want the press to think you’re flirting with a guy, I suggest you step back.”

Harry pulls his head back so he can look at Louis. “Bold of you to assume that I give a shit.”

Louis doesn’t really know what to say, but Harry steps back nonetheless and walks back over to where Liam and Niall are standing with their arms crossed, looking up at the stage.

He tells them something before he pats Liam on the back and walks back around the stage, disappearing.

“You’re trying to put the moves on him.” Zayn tells him during the next pause between songs and Louis looks at him like he’s just insulted him.

“Um? No I’m not.”

“Yeah you are. I know you. I’ve seen you. You gave him your ‘fuck me now’ look.”

“I don’t-he’s straight anyway.”

“So you would.” Zayn concludes.

Louis wants to say something but he sees that the guy is still filming so he snatches the phone from his hand, taking him completely by surprise.

“Stop invading people’s privacy for likes and retweets.” Louis educates him before he stops the recording, deletes it, and then deletes it from the ‘recently deleted’ folder as well. It’s a five-minute video, so he dodged a bullet there.

The guy looks like he wants the ground to swallow him up, so Louis throws him a sweet smile as he hands him his phone back, before turning his attention back to the band.

The concert finishes half an hour later and Louis links his fingers with Zayn’s as they try to get out and go meet Niall and Liam by the bar next to the VIP area.

Niall greets him by placing a drink in his hand, which makes Louis’ entire day.

“You’re my favorite person.” Louis tells him as he sips on the straw.

“We’re going to hang out in there for a bit, I need to sit down, me back is killing me.” Niall says and nods over to the VIPs.

“Try to sneak us in?” Louis suggests, but Liam cuts in.

“No need for that. Here you go.” He says and hands him and Zayn two passes to hang around their neck.

“What?” Louis asks incredulously.

“Courtesy of Harry. Told me to give these to you guys. He noticed you had general access bracelets.”

“How nice of him.” Louis says, only half sarcastic.

“Tell him thank you.” Zayn chimes in after he hung it around his neck and Louis does the same.

“You can thank him yourselves.” Liam smiles. “He’s in there having a drink.”

Okay so not only did Louis manage to sneak into the VIP area and talk shit to a ‘rockstar’s’ face earlier, but now he gets free VIP passes? How is this his life?

They enter the area calmly this time and find Harry at the bar.

“Hi.” He says to them, but only looks at Louis.

“So you finally noticed that there’s no sun huh.” Louis greets him back and bats his eyelashes at him over the straw.

Harry breathes harder through his nose as if he wanted to laugh but not quite. He looks surprised by Louis’ choice of greeting.

“Thanks for the passes though.” Louis says then, choosing to play nice instead.

Harry smiles at that. “You’re welcome.”

Louis knows the answer but asks anyway. “How’d you know we’d need them though?”

“Your bracelets are general access.”

“Why are you checking out my arms?”

Okay, it’s a stupid thing to ask, but Louis is drunk and this guy is way too attractive for him to act normal right now.

 _What_.

“I saw your rope tattoo on your wrist. And…” Harry trails off, pulling his sleeves up and showing off his anchor tattoo.

Louis stares at it. “So?”

“If we ever held hands, they would match.”

“That’s an unlikely scenario.” Louis nervously laughs.

“Just saying.” Harry shrugs and gives him a asshole-ish smile.

“Maybe you should lay off the alcohol.”

Harry cocks his head. “I could tell you the same thing.”

“I’m twenty-six, don’t tell me what to do.”

Louis drinks what’s left in his cup, slams it down the bar and makes a face at Harry before he walks off to look for the toilets. There are two people in front of him waiting to get their turn, so Louis pulls out his phone, and after updating his Instagram story with a few videos from Imagine Dragons, he clicks on Safari. He types ‘harry styles’ in the search bar and waits for it to load.

“Shit festival connection.” Louis mumbles, because the WiFi is a joke.

When the page finally loads, he clicks on the first result, which is Harry’s Wikipedia page.

_Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter and actor._

Louis scrolls through his Wikipedia page, quickly skimming through the lines, which tell the story of how he was discovered when he was twenty years old and singing on the street in London. A record label owner walked by one day and heard him sing, asked him to come to the studio and try out some covers, before he signed him. He wasn’t such a big deal in England, but when they released his first single in the US it skyrocketed from there.

“That’s not really accurate.” Someone says against his neck and Louis jolts, turning around.

Harry’s standing there, looking at him.

“What?”

“The ‘personal life’ section. I never dated those women.” Harry explains.

“I didn’t get to that part.” Louis answers, keeping his head held high as to seem like he isn’t embarrassed that he’s been caught doing research. “And if it isn’t accurate, why don’t you contact them?”

Harry shrugs. “People always choose to believe what they want to believe, regardless of what I say.”

“Yeah, I noticed. That guy next to me filmed our whole interaction and it felt weird. I deleted it though. The video.”

Harry raises his eyebrows. “How’d you do that?”

“I took the phone and deleted it.”

“Never thought about that.” Harry laughs, switching his weight from one foot to the other.

“Yeah, well, if you did it, it would probably show up in the press the next day and you’d be called aggressive.”

“True.” Harry agrees, a small smile playing on his lips. Louis’ eyes drift down to them and Harry notices, of course he does, because he leans in closer. Louis looks into his eyes.

“Louis.” Harry states, breath fanning over Louis’ face.

“Hm?”

“It’s your turn.” Harry says and nods towards the toilets.

“Ah, shit, yeah.” Louis stutters.

He turns around and enters the toilet, cursing himself for losing his composure for a second.

***

The last act ends around midnight and everyone starts walking towards the exit once the music stops. Harry and Liam have long disappeared, and the problem is that Louis doesn’t want to go home on his first day of the festival, so when Niall suggests going to a party away from the festival grounds, Louis agrees on his and Zayn’s behalf.

“Where is it?” Louis asks as they walk through the exit and pass the camping grounds.

“At a hotel five minutes away from here.” Niall cryptically answers and looks over at a group of people with anchors drawn on their faces.

Louis doesn’t get it at first, so Niall elaborates a few seconds later after they’ve passed the group. “It’s at Harry’s hotel. He’s got a deluxe suite and he invited some friends over.”

“Oh, right.”

The hotel is indeed a five-minute walk from the festival, and Niall has to give the security guard by the door on the fifth floor a secret code name before they’re led towards the door to Harry’s suite.

Music is coming from inside and as soon as they open the door, Louis already spots two celebrities he’s seen in the magazines but doesn’t really know their name.

Liam and Harry are by the couch, talking to one of their friends, and Niall goes right over, which means that Louis has to awkwardly follow him there since he doesn’t know anyone else.

“Glad you could come.” Harry says, pressing his palms together and smiling at Louis and Zayn. “Help yourselves to the drinks in the kitchen.”

Louis doesn’t need to be told twice, because he’s already off to the kitchen. The amount of alcohol on the island counter is shocking even to Louis, who’s been to his fair share of parties.

He chooses to grab himself a bottle of beer though, because any more hard liquor will completely damage him for the next three days. If he wakes up hungover tomorrow it won’t be good for anyone.

On his way back out of the kitchen he takes a pastry from the counter and bites into it as he opens the door with his shoulder. The lights have been dimmed now and people are dancing, so finding Zayn is quite hard. Knowing him though, he’s probably on the balcony having a smoke.

As it turns out, Louis is right about Zayn’s whereabouts, because he finds him on the giant balcony overlooking a dimly lit golf course with Liam, Niall and Harry.

“I’ve got my tupperware in my room, should I start rolling?” Harry suggests and Niall instantly nods, urging him to do so.

“What’s the tupperware?” Louis asks, wondering whether it’s what he thinks it is.

“My weed.” Harry clarifies… and okay.

“Who keeps their weed in a tupperware container?” Louis asks.

“You do.” Zayn says and shakes his head.

Harry beams at Louis before he puts his cigarette in the ashtray by the door and disappears inside.

Two minutes later he’s back outside and sits down on one of the chairs, placing his tupperware on the marble round table.

Louis offers to help him with the grinder while Harry makes the filter.

“Look at us, already getting along.” Harry says, fingers working on the small paper.

“Well, if it’s about this, then sure.” Louis answers, motioning to the small baggy.

He watches Harry dart his tongue out to roll the joint, and blinks when he finds himself obviously staring.

Liam hands him a lighter and Harry stares at the joint for one second, before he lights it up and puts it between his lips.

The smell hits Louis instantly and he smiles, relaxing against the chair. Today’s been a good day, and smoking just tops it all off.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Niall asks Harry when he gets the joint.

Harry explains that he has no idea what he’s going to do tomorrow and that the smart tv in his bedroom has Netflix so he might stay in and binge-watch something.

Fifteen minutes later after they’ve smoked it, Zayn reminds Louis that they should be heading back to the camp since Dua Lipa is performing at 4pm and it’s already way past two.

On their way back to the camping grounds, with Niall in tow, Zayn talks about how he can’t believe they just hung out with Harry Styles. All Louis can do, really, is roll his eyes until they’re in front of their tent, saying goodnight to Niall.

Ten minutes later after brushing their teeth and changing into a pair of shorts, Louis and Zayn get into their sleeping bags.

“You were flirting.” Zayn states in the darkness and Louis huffs, staring at the ceiling.

“I was not.”

“And he was flirting back.”

Louis turns his head to look at Zayn. He’s got one arm under his head and he’s looking at Louis.

“He was _not_.”

“I got a little gay vibe from him.” Zayn hums and then turns so he’s on his back. “But maybe I’m wrong.”

He’s not wrong.

“You’re wrong.” Louis tells him and closes his eyes, turning on his side. “Goodnight.”

***

Louis wakes up on his own the next day and Zayn’s still sleeping. He debates getting back to him for yesterday by jolting him awake but eventually decides against it and gets up to go shower and brush his teeth.

By the time he gets back to their tent, Niall is on the fold out chair in front of it, sharing a beer with Zayn.

“How did you get dressed before me?” Louis asks, looking at his best friend.

Zayn points to the right. “Gender neutral bathrooms were empty, and they’re right there.”

“Shit, I hadn’t noticed. I had to wait in line like ten minutes.”

Niall’s group is also ready, and they start walking towards the festival half an hour past 2pm. Steve Aoki is going to close the show at the Coachella Stage and Louis couldn’t be more excited, so he buys himself a RedBull as soon as they enter the festival just to be sure he’ll stay up until 10.

As they wait in line to get something to drink before Dua Lipa starts, Louis watches two girls in front of him with glitter in their hair.

“Excuse me?” he says, tapping one of them on the shoulder. They turn around. “Do you still have that glitter? I’d love to get some on my face.”

Their faces light up. “Of course! Hold on.”

She digs through her bum bag and takes out a small glitter tube and asks her friend to put some false eyelash glue by Louis’ eyes. Louis closes his eyes and waits for them to apply the glitter. He thanks them once it’s done and opens the front camera of his phone to check himself out.

“You’re pretty.” Zayn observes and smiles.

“The prettiest in all the land.” Niall adds.

Louis rolls his eyes but smiles nonetheless.

An hour later they’re in the crowd, waiting for Dua to come on stage.

“I’m in love with her.” Louis states, getting on his tiptoes so he can look at the screen when she finally comes out on stage. Zayn hums in agreement and Louis is about to say something else when Niall shouts “Hareeh!”

Louis turns around, eyes falling on Liam and Harry, who are trying to make their way through the crowd until they’re finally standing next to them. He’s wearing a plain white shirt, a grey jacket (in this fucking _heat_ ) and black skinnies, sunglasses on top of his nose. The fact that he’s got a headband on does NOT make him more attractive. It does not.

“Hi.” Harry smiles. He looks at Louis, then at the glitter on Louis’ face. “Nice.”

Louis is aware that there are people staring at them right now, so he just greets him with a curt nod and turns around to watch the rest of the show.

“Listen, if we want to get caked we need to go there about an hour before Steve starts. People are ruthless, I already saw some heading over to the big stage with ‘Cake Me’ banners.” Louis informs Zayn halfway during Dua’s concert.

“He told me he brought like thirty cakes today.” Harry says, joining into the conversation.

“You know Steve Aoki?” Louis asks, and of _course_ he does, what a stupid question.

“Yeah, met him a couple of times. He was backstage during my show yesterday. Nice lad.”

Louis huffs. He’s been trying to get on stage during Steve’s set for ages, not to mention the cake. But he’s never there on time and therefore the front row is always occupied.

“Well if you see him today, let him know that I want cake in my face.” Louis states.

“I’ll make sure to pass the message.” Harry laughs.

Louis already has a plan in mind, in which he’ll convince someone to give him a shoulder ride and find someone who will lend him a marker so he can write ‘cake me’ on his collarbones. He’s not sure whether it’ll be over or under his ‘it is what it is’ tattoo.

After Dua finishes, they go to the VIP section for some drinks, and Louis is determined to find at least one of his celebrity crushes and ask them for a photo.

There’s no one worth mentioning lounging around right now, so Louis heads directly over to the bar.

“One shot of Tequila please.” He tells the same girl from yesterday. She smiles, knowingly.

“Two.” Someone adds from behind Louis and he turns his head to stare at Harry, who’s currently leaning against the bar on his left.

“Where did you get the glitter?” Harry asks him.

“Some girls had it earlier. Don’t tell me you want some too.”

“Of course I do.” Harry smirks.

“Go find them then.”

“Or you could rub some off and put it on my face.”

Louis makes a face. “There’s no chance in hell that I’ll ruin my glitter just so you can get some.”

The bartender interrupts them when she places two shot glasses on the bar, eyeing them curiously.

“Cheers.” Harry says and grabs his shot glass.

“Cheers.”

They knock their glasses together before they down the shot in one go.

“Can you help me find glitter like that?” Harry asks, licking his lips.

“Another round please.” Louis says to the bartender. He can’t handle Harry Styles when he’s being like this.

“Oh, come on Lou.” Harry pouts.

Louis’ jaw clenches. “Don’t call me that.”

“Isn’t that your name?”

“No. My name’s Lou _is_. Not Lou.”

Harry squints as if to say that he doesn’t believe him, so Louis turns to the bartender.

“Make that four shots love, I can’t handle Harvey when he’s being whiny.”

Harry opens his mouth. “You know that’s not-ugh, whatever.”

Louis cocks his head and shoots him a sweet smile as the shots are placed in front of them. Harry looks down at the glasses, reluctant look on his face.

“What, are you going to chicken out now?” Louis asks, wrapping his fingers around one of the glasses.

“No way.” Harry sternly says and takes one as well.

Louis bites into the lemon and closes his eyes, because he’s always hated the taste of lemon way more than the taste of Tequila.

“You know what would be even more fun?” Harry asks and Louis raises his head in question. “Body shots.”

The girls’ eyes widen, because she’s been watching them since no one else around wants drinks.

“Ha, you wish Harvey.”

“Are you going to chicken out now?” Harry asks, mocking Louis’ northern accent.

“No. But I’m not going to do body shots in broad daylight with you when photographers are around.”

“Wouldn’t have thought you’re the shy type.” Harry hums.

“’m not.”

“So not here then, huh? Where would you like to do it then?”

“Stop flirting with me.” Louis says, shaking his head.

“Who says I’m flirting?”

“Your body language.”

Harry looks down at himself. He’s leaning with one elbow against the bar, hips pushed towards Louis and his left ankle over his right.

“So you’re a body language expert or what?”

“Mhm.” Louis says, getting ready to take the third shot.

“You’ve got a Psychology diploma and everything then?” Harry continues, sarcastically.

“As a matter of fact, I do. Graduated top of my class at Uni.” Louis informs him and Harry’s speechless.

“Well…shit.” Harry grabs the glass and knocks it against Louis’. “To you being a Psychologist.”

Louis nods and drinks. Two minutes later they’re on their way to their group’s table.

“I’m not a Psychologist by the way.” Louis feels the need to say.

“Huh?”

“I got my degree in Psychology, busted my ass off for those grades but I never actually became a Psychologist.”

“What do you do then?”

Louis shakes his head. “You’ll never guess.”

“What if I do?”

They stop a few feet away from their table.

“You never will though.”

“And what if I do?”

Louis takes a second to think about it. “Then we can do body shots. Wherever you want, whenever you want.”

Harry’s tongue darts out in the corner of his mouth. “I get three guesses.”

“One.”

“Two.”

“Agreed.” Louis says and crosses his arms.

“Wait, you want me to guess right now?”

“Yeah.”

Harry stares at him, squinting, trying to figure him out.

“Well you’re at a festival, you like having fun…so I’m going to say something like…you’re a professional skydiver?”

Louis blinks. Then bursts out laughing. “Really? Out of all the jobs in the world, you think I’m a professional skydiver?”

Harry shrugs.

“I always wanted to skydive though, never really got the balls to do it. And Zayn would never agree because he’s afraid of heights. So, no.”

“I got one more shot though.” Harry points out and taps his finger against his chin.

“If it’s as bad as this one, you might as well give up now.”

“Give me some time.”

“No way Harvey. You’re going to ask Zayn or something. Tell me now.”

“Fine.” Harry huffs. “At least give me a hint.”

Louis smacks his lips. “Okay. Let’s say…my appearance is a clue. And I’m sort of a Psychologist.”

“I got it! You’re a hairdresser.” Harry excitedly says. “’cause you know…your hair looks good and you always talk to your clients.”

When Louis doesn’t answer, Harry asks him if he got it right.

“No you didn’t.” Louis laughs. “Was fun though. Thanks for the laughs.”

Harry pouts and Louis does his best to ignore it by walking over to their table and sitting down next to Niall.

“Quite an interesting conversation you were having over there.” Zayn points out as Niall shoves a cup filled with beer under his nose.

“He was trying to guess what I do for a living.”

“And did he get it?”

Louis shakes his head. “No.”

Harry sits down on the empty chair next to him and shrugs off his jacket, placing it behind him on the chair.

“Is that-is that a ship?” Louis asks, forgetting everything he learned about boundaries by placing his finger on Harry’s ship tattoo.

“Yeah.” Harry says, looking down at his arm.

Louis stretches out his right arm and points to his compass tattoo. “Look.”

He’s a bit dizzy from the shots they did, but he can put two and two together.

“What the fuck.” Niall says, leaning over. “Holy shit! They align.”

“This is creepy.” Louis mutters, taking his arm off the table and putting his hands under his ass so people would stop staring at his tattoos.

It’s just coincidence. First time it’s an accident and the second time is a coincidence, that’s all it is.

Harry lights up a cigarette next to him and Louis does the same, only for Niall to interrupt them by proposing to take a shot.

“We just…I can’t.” Louis mutters, blowing out smoke. He needs to sit down right now. The Tequila hasn’t hit him yet and he’s pretty sure that one more shot will accelerate it and he’ll be hit by what feels like a ton of bricks.

“If you’ll do it I’ll do it.” Harry says and Louis suppresses his need to ask him if he’d also jump off a bridge if he were to do it.

“Fine.” Louis sighs. “Let me finish this first.” He says and points to his cigarette.

They make casual conversation until all the cigarettes around the table are put out in the ashtray before they get up to walk over to the bar. Louis’ pretty sure he’s spent more time at the bar than he has at any of the stages today.

Louis stands on the sidelines as Niall orders like twelve shots and catches the bartender scribbling something with her marker down a piece of paper, so he asks to borrow it for a bit.

“What are you doing?” Harry asks when he sees Louis pulling his head back, trying to write something over his tattoo.

“I’m trying to write ‘Cake Me’ on meself.” Louis explains.

“You need help?”

Louis nods and hands him the marker, before he pulls down the collar of his white tank top. “Right over the tattoo.”

Harry bows his head and places his thumb and index finger on Louis, even though it’s not really necessary since he’s already holding the tank top down. He doesn’t comment on it.

“Make sure it’s in huge block letters, yeah?”

Harry snorts. “Yeah yeah.”

Once he’s done, Louis looks down to see Harry’s work. “Thanks.”

“Do me.”

Louis’ head snaps up at that and takes the marker from Harry’s hands. “Oh, you meant the-yeah.”

Harry laughs and makes a scene of bending his knees to be shorter.

“Yeah, no need for that.” Louis mumbles and smacks his shoulder to get him to stand up properly. “Also, your shirt is kind of in the way.”

“You want me to take it off then?” Harry asks, and he’s way closer than Louis remembers him being

“Uh…no. Just pull the collar down.”

Harry does as instructed and soon enough, Louis writes the same words on his collarbones.

“That’s a hell of an innuendo, by the way.” Louis observes and puts the cap back on the marker. “If you’re not going to be in the crowd, I mean.”

“I know. But I am going to be in the crowd.”

“Isn’t it annoying to get recognized wherever you go? Have people asking to take pictures of you all the time?”

Harry shrugs. “I’ve gotten used to it.”

“Also, cake me is like…basically an invitation to get someone to-“

“I know.” Harry laughs.

Louis raises his eyebrows. “So you’re not bothered by people assuming you’re not straight.”

“Who said I’m straight?” Harry daringly asks and Louis is taken aback. He’s done his research last night and from what he’s read so far, Harry has been made out to be quite the womanizer. “You shouldn’t just assume that because you read a couple of articles.”

“Yeah…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s fine. People assume all the time and I don’t really give a shit, they can think what they want to think, me saying something isn’t going to change that. I’ve said that I don’t like labeling myself, but the media always needs something to get views.”

Louis nods. He wonders if he’d be this tough if he were in the public eye.

“Shotssss!” Niall yells, startling both of them. “Come get y’all shots!”

Everyone bursts out laughing and there’s pushing as everyone tries to get their shots and the lemon slice.

“Salt?” Niall asks, looking at Louis.

“No, thanks. I never use the salt. ‘s gross.”

Niall looks at him like he’s got three heads.

“To Coachella.” Liam says and everyone raises their glasses, causing a few spills here and there.

They down their shots at the same time and Harry licks his fingers afterwards because he spilled a few drops on his hand.

“That’s…okay.” Louis says and shakes his head.

He goes to the toilets and comes out with a fuzzy vision.

_So the Tequila has kicked in. Great._

He’s on his way back to the group when Harry stops him, eyes wide. “I know what you do.”

Louis looks at Zayn watching them, and he knows.

“What do I do then?” he asks, crossing his arms.

“You’re a tattoo artist.”

“Zayn told you.” Louis states and Harry purses his lips.

“No he didn’t.”

“Zayn?” Louis asks, looking at him.

“I did.”

Louis points at Zayn. “Ha! See?”

“Oh come on!”

“You cheated. ‘s not fair.” Louis shrugs and sweetly smiles at him before he leaves Harry standing there.

He smiles to himself when he hears Harry muttering ‘damn’ under his breath as he walks away.

***

There’s a lot of anticipation for Steve Aoki’s set and Louis holds on to Zayn for dear life as he pulls him by the hand, trying to get as close as he can to the stage. He’s seen Steve three times before and didn’t get caked once. Not even once, for fuck’s sake. Today, that’s going to change. It has to change.

“Here’s good.” He says and turns around to see Zayn’s face. They’re both tipsy and ready to get some cake in their face. No pun intended.

Niall, as well as his entire group, completed by Liam and Harry, are all behind him, sipping on drinks and talking about something Louis can’t really hear.

The lights go out, leaving them in complete darkness for a second, before the beat picks up and a cartoon of Steve appears on the screens. The crowd goes wild and Louis starts jumping, that’s how excited he is.

The set starts and Louis is drunk and fucking loves life right now. He gets to see one of his favorite DJs right now, and it can only get better if he gets caked. For once in his life, he just wants to get caked.

“Your glitter looks so pretty in the lights.” Harry says against his temple a few songs later and Louis feels something in his stomach. It’s not butterflies; it’s a weird…warmth. Like the one he usually gets when a really attractive guy is whispering into his ear. Harry’s breath is hot above his ear and he’s really close, one hand on the small of his back.

“Fine.” He groans and rubs his palm against his glitter and makes sure some of it came off before he slowly drags his hand across the left side of Harry’s face, from his temple all the way to his cheek.

“Better now?”

Harry checks himself with the front camera of his phone. “Yeah.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Louis shakes his head, head snapping up when he hears the first beats of Tremor through the giant speakers.

The crowd goes nuts, singing along to the beat, and since they’re pretty close to the stage, people already start pushing to create a giant circle in the middle of the crowd.

“It’s a mosh piiiiit!” Niall yells from behind him.

Louis has been in a mosh pit once before, during Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike’s set a few years ago, and he swore to himself that he’ll never do it again, because he came out with a black eye and bruises down his arm.

Niall, Liam, and the rest of their friends make their way to the sides of the pit, ready for the beat to drop.

“Fuck no.” Louis mutters and steps back, falling into Zayn, who isn’t a fan either.

He watches Harry go up to Liam and shakes his head, because _fuck_.

“Three two one go!” Steve yells into the microphone, before the circle closes and there’s people jumping everywhere. Louis feels his stress levels going through the roof, because mosh pits are truly something wild.

When the song finishes, the crowd has shifted and they’re even closer to the stage, so close Louis can see where the front row is.

The guys come back one song later and Harry’s not wearing sunglasses anymore.

“Lost something?” Louis jokes and Harry frowns, leaning his head down so Louis can repeat what he said.

“Yeah. My sunglasses fell off. They were my favorite ones.” Harry pouts and Louis realizes that his eyes are shiny. So he’s not the only one on the way to being drunk.

Kolony Anthem starts and Louis looks at Zayn at the same time Zayn looks at him. It’s their song. They laugh as they jump up during the song and Louis subtly tries to get even closer to the stage.

Steve turns down the volume once the song is finished and grabs the microphone. He calls two people on stage with him for the crowd control and asks everyone to grab the person next to them by the shoulders.

It’s just Louis’ luck that Harry is on his right and Zayn on his left. The crowd starts jumping once the arrows appear on the screen and Louis already feels trampled.

Once everything calms down and the next song starts, Steve goes back to the DJ booth.

Now, Louis’ seen him enough times to know that the caking part is starting soon.

“Cake Face is up next, I swear.” He excitedly tells Zayn. “Lift me up on your shoulders.”

“What? I can barely carry my own weight.” Zayn laughs. “You lift _me_ up.”

“Ex _fucking_ cuseme?” Louis dramatically gasps, placing a hand on his chest.

“I could give you a shoulder ride if you want.” Harry offers and Louis looks at him. Harry’s really pretty, he thinks, with the glitter on his face and his green eyes sparkling in the stage lights.

“You sure?”

Harry nods, laughing. “Pretty sure.”

Liam then offers to take Zayn on his shoulders and Louis sees that Niall is already on one of his friends’ shoulders, snapchatting everything.

“Alright.” Louis nods and spreads his legs. He watches Harry disappear from his line of vision as he crouches down and grabs into Louis’ thighs as he pushes his head between Louis’ legs. Then he stands up, taking Louis along with him.

“I can see the whole world from here!” Louis yells, looking around. He can see where the crowd ends, way back; can see all the signs people brought to the concert and wonders why he didn’t bring one himself.

He can feel Harry’s rings digging into the skin above his knee and pats him on the head to thank him. Operation ‘get a shoulder ride’ has been a success.

The beat dies for a few moments as Steve climbs on top of the DJ booth and Louis realizes that he’s close enough to get caked. This is it. This is what he came for.

“Raise your hands if you’re ready for some cake!” Steve yells into the microphone and Louis does just that.

Cake Face starts and Louis feels adrenaline rushing through his body as Steve picks up the first out of many cakes and throws it at someone on the right side of the stage.

Harry’s moving to the beat under him, making Louis move along with him and his head is spinning in a good way. He looks over at Zayn who films him for a moment, so he crosses his eyes and smiles. He’s hasn’t been this happy in a long time.

They scream along to the ‘cakeeee meee, cakeee meee’ part of the song and Steve throws five more cakes before he walks over to their side with a cake in hand.

The next thing Louis knows, the cake is flying and it hits Niall right in the face, some of it falling onto Louis’ shoulder. Just when he thinks that was it, he sees Steve pointing in his direction with a smirk and another cake is flying as the beat drops, getting Louis and Zayn in the chest.

It’s kind of poetic, really, Louis thinks, feeling the cake drip down from his chest. His fingers are sticky and his tank top is clinging to his body, but the only thing he feels is pure happiness. Some of it got in his hair as well, not much, but he can’t really get it out with sticky fingers.

“We’re on the screen!” Zayn yells at him and Louis looks up to the screens to see himself and Zayn. He’s got cake on his collarbones, cake on his left cheek and some of it is in his hair and expected, but he looks happy.

He _is_ happy.

He licks his fingers as he watches the rest of the cakes being thrown in the crowd and people laughing on the screens.

Harry lets go of one of his legs so he can lick his fingers and look up at Louis, who’s already looking down at him. They smile at each other and Louis wonders how in the world isn’t he tired already and hasn’t put him down yet.

“Your hair’s a mess.” Louis informs Zayn, who had the bad luck of getting a lot of cake in his hair.

“Fuck.” Zayn laughs, taking his hands up to his hair to feel the cake chunks. “Fuck.”

Once Steve is all out of cakes, he goes back to the DJ booth to play the last two songs of the night. Pursuit of Happiness is Louis’ all time favorite and he’s glad that Harry hasn’t put him down, because he gets to belt it out along with Niall and Zayn, feeling like they’re on top of the world.

When the song ends and What We Started comes on, Louis pats Harry on the head, who gets the message and crouches back down.

“Thank you…really. Thanks.” Louis smiles. His smile gets even bigger when he sees that Harry’s got cake in his hair and on his shoulders.

“My pleasure.” Harry nods, smirking.

Louis wants to ask if he’s up for it tomorrow as well during The Script and Coldplay, but he doesn’t, because he thinks it’s enough for now. He doesn’t want to overstep any boundaries because they’ve known each other for about thirty hours.

During the last chorus, they already start going towards the exit because they feel really sticky and it’s getting uncomfortable.

“I think I need to go back to the hotel and shower this off.” Harry observes, looking down at himself.

“We’ve got showers in the camping grounds, way closer.” Niall informs him and Harry agrees.

“You’ve got a little cake on your face.” Harry tells Louis as they get in line for the exit.

“Yeah?” Louis asks and takes all the cake he can get into his hands before he presses them against Harry’s face. “You got some too.”

Harry laughs. “Fuck you.”

“You wish.” Louis daringly says and Harry’s about to reply when two girls and one guy come up to him, asking him for a photo.

Louis wipes his hands on his pants before he takes the phone and snaps a few pictures of them.

“Thank you.” One of the girls says, blushing, before they’re off, talking about Harry in hushed tones.

“That was weird.” Louis says, crossing his arms.

“It happens sometimes.” Harry shrugs it off.

As expected, the showers in the camp are all full so they have to wait there too. Louis feels like he’s going to combust because his clothes are really sticking to his body and the cake is starting to smell.

“I’m done with this.” he mutters and pulls the tank top over his head.

Harry stares at the ‘It Is What It Is’ tattoo under Louis’ collarbones for a moment, before he shakes his head.

“So you’re in one of the tents here?” he asks Louis, making a point by looking into his eyes as he speaks, and not anywhere else.

“Yeah, I’m sharing one with Zayn.”

“So are you two like…”

Louis can tell that Harry’s uncomfortable asking that and pretends to be offended by the question. “No, we’re not. He’s my best friend.”

He pulls his phone out and notices he’s got five missed calls from Lottie, and just as he’s about to call her back, she calls again.

“Hello?” he says into the phone.

“LOUIS!” she screams.

Oh, so it’s one of those calls.

“Yeah?”

“Were you on Harry Styles’ shoulders?!”

“Uh…yeah.” He says and tries to turn the volume down because Harry is laughing right now, probably hearing everything.

“It’s all over Tumblr! People have screenshots of the livestream! They’re asking who you are!”

Louis rolls his eyes. “Well don’t tell them Lottie, Jesus.”

“How…HOW! HOW did that happen!”

“Uh…it just kinda happened?” Louis mutters, turning away from Harry to hiss into the phone. “Stop yelling.”

“Oh my GOD is here there right now?!”

“Mhmm.”

“Is he even hotter up close than as everyone says?”

Louis spares a glance at Harry, who’s talking to Zayn, thanking him for the towels he brought from their tent.

“Yeah he is.”

“Before you come back, can you ask him to autograph something? Anything? Please Lou, pleaseee. His shows are always sold out and the Meet and Greets are SO expensive I have to save up for a whole year.”

“Fine, I will. If you promise you’ll stop screaming when you call.”

“Okay. Have a good time!” she says and Louis hangs up.

The line moves painstakingly slow because everyone here has cake _somewhere_.

“So I’m even hotter in person then?” Harry teases and Louis feels like dying.

“Stop listening in to my private phone calls please.”

“It’s fun.”

“Yeah? Well…” Louis stutters, trying to pick on anything related to Harry. “…your glitter is fucked up now.”

It’s confirmed. Louis Tomlinson is a 26 year old with third-grade comebacks. He _loathes_ himself.

“Good comeback.” Harry hums and Louis loathes him even more.

They finally get their turn to shower, and it just so happens that there are two free showers, which means Harry has to undress in front of him as well.

The first thing Louis notices is the fucking giant moth on his chest. He swears he’s seen it before.

“Hold on a second.” He gasps, pointing to the moth. “Where did you get that?”

“At a tattoo parlor?” Harry answers as he pushes his jeans down to his ankles.

“ _Which_ one and where?”

“Um…some tattoo parlor in London? Something with L and W in the name I think?”

“That’s-that’s my tattoo place. I mean, that’s where I got this one. I recognize the drawing. LWTattoos, was it?”

Harry takes a moment to think about it. “Yeah, I think so. Why? You recognize the drawing?”

Of _course_ Louis fucking recognizes the drawing. One of his artists made it, and he knows that because his ‘It Is What It Is’ tattoo was right above that moth as part of a set. When he got his, he especially left out the butterfly/moth or whatever that is because it seemed way too _ridiculous_ for him to get it as a full set. He remembers thinking about who in their right minds would get a moth on themselves.

Harry Styles, apparently, that’s who.

“So? Do you recognize it?” Harry pushes, and Louis remembers that he’s been having a conversation with himself and completely forgot about Harry.

“ _LWTattoos_? As in Louis William Tomlinson tattoos?” Louis clarifies and it takes Harry two full seconds for his eyes to widen in recognition.

“Shit, yeah. I’ve been there last year in November or so…but I think I’d remember you.”

Louis rolls his eyes at the cheesy line. He’s about 90% sure by now that Harry’s flirting, but he’s been linked with so many women over the past few years that he’s not sure what to believe.

_“People always choose to believe what they want to believe, regardless of what I say.”,_ Harry’s words ring through Louis’ head. It’s not even Louis’ business, who Harry dates or who he flirts with, so Louis decides to let it go.

“I was probably on vacation, I usually visit my family a weekend or two every month.” Louis explains.

“I think it was a dark haired guy with a piercing in his nose if I remember correctly, but I’ve been to a lot of tattoo parlors since then.”

“Oh, right. That’s Max.” Louis grins, ecstatic. “One of my artists. He drew the moth and this.” Louis says, pointing at his collarbones.

He analyzes Harry’s chest, shamelessly if he may add, to see if he can recognize any other drawings, but there’s so much going on he can’t concentrate. And the fact that he’s still drunk isn’t helping.

“So what other tattoos did you get at LWT?” Louis asks.

Harry looks down, moving his arms to check. “Uhh…I think this one?” Harry asks, raising his left arm and pointing to the birdcage on his side.

“It came with some birds, but it was too much, I was twenty-one.”

“Birds…” Louis trails off and lifts up his right wrist. “These ones.”

Harry stares at them, mouth agape, and Louis’ mind is spinning because he’s got too much alcohol in his veins and his judgement is cloudy.

“Are you guys going to hold up the queue for much longer or can we shower?” a guy behind Harry asks, waving around his towel.

“No, sorry.” Harry apologizes and opens one of the doors to get in.

Louis is about to turn around and go to his shower, when the angry guy gets in first, leaving him out in just his underwear. He clutches his and Harry’s clothes to his chest as he waits for a cabin to open up.

“What are you doing.” Harry laughs when he gets out of the shower, hair dripping and sticking to his forehead, drops of water running down his- “Louis?”

Louis blinks. “Shit, yeah. That guy got in my shower, hold these.”

He pushes the clothes against Harry’s chest and gets into the shower. He takes off his briefs and places them on the door, turning on the shower. He needs to cool down right now, because he’s attracted to a guy who might be straight and who wouldn’t fuck him even in a million years.

Harry’s leaning against the wall and waits for Louis to dry off and put his clothes back on before they join the group outside.

“So here are the options: one, we go to bed and get some rest. Two, we go back to the hotel and have some drinks there. Or three, we stay in the camp grounds and party with everyone.” Niall suggests.

“I’m good either way.” Liam says, looking at Harry. “What do you want to do? Paul is waiting at the hotel, if you want to call him.”

Louis tries to keep his face straight at the mention of a guy’s name. Who’s Paul?

“Yeah I’m going to text him that he can go to sleep and that I’m going to come over later.” Harry says, already pulling out his phone.

“So you want to stay here?” Liam asks, smiling.

“Yeah, of course.” Harry laughs.

“Well I don’t know about you guys but I definitely need a change of clothes.” Louis buts into the conversation and points over to the path that leads to his tent.

“Can I borrow a shirt or something?” Harry asks, following him already.

Louis squints at him. “I’ll see what I can do.”

On the way to the tent Louis drowns out the talk about tomorrow as he tries to think of clever, not at all obvious ways to find out who this Paul is. If he’s a boyfriend or a hookup, then it means Harry’s not so straight after all.

“So…Paul.” He starts, failing.

“Paul.” Harry repeats, nodding.

“Isn’t he…worried about so many fans trying to get to you every day?”

 _Miserably_ failing.

“Not at all, he takes care of me when I need him to.”

Great, there is no bit of information in that sentence whatsoever.

“Oh…really. How…nice.”

Is that all he can do??? For fuck’s sake.

“Yeah, I met him when I was twenty-one and he’s been there for me ever since.”

Louis thinks about directly asking him about his boyfriend, but then again, it’s none of his fucking business.

“Wow, I’ve never had a relationship that lasted longer than half a year, let alone what…three years?”

Harry nods.

Fuck, so it is his boyfriend.

“Me neither.”

Oh, wait.

“What do you mean, you neither?”

“I mean, it’s hard to maintain a relationship when everything you do is monitored and analyzed. And-yeah. Whatever.”

“And Paul doesn’t mind?” Louis asks, trying to finish the sentence for him. He’s way too tipsy (the shower sobered him up a bit) to actually give a shit.

“Of course he doesn’t.” Harry says, and Louis frowns, because Harry’s smirking right now, tongue poking out between his teeth.

“Are you-are you fucking with me?”

Harry bursts out laughing just as they reach the tent. “Yeah I am.” “Fuck you.” Louis mumbles, showing him the bird as he turns the numbers in the lock.

“You wish.” Harry mocks Louis’ words from last night.

You bet I do, Louis thinks but doesn’t say. He’s trying to concentrate on getting the numbers right, but Harry’s close and smells like good cologne and it’s-it’s.

“I know you were trying to figure out who Paul is the moment you heard his name being mentioned, so I thought I’d leave you hanging.” Harry laughs.

“Aren’t you the psychologist.” Louis sarcastically says. “Reading me and everything.”

“It’s like a light went off in your head when Liam mentioned it.”

“Like fuck it did.”

“Can I…” Zayn interjects, and it’s only now that Louis realizes he’s been there the whole time.

Louis steps aside to let Zayn into the tent first. “So do you have any preference as to what color you’d like the shirt to be?”

“Black is fine.” Harry smiles, burying his hands in his pockets and rolling on the balls of his feet.

Louis ducks to get into the tent and finds Zayn cross-legged, digging through his own suitcase.

“So you and Harry seem to be getting along just fine.” Zayn whispers as Louis unzips his own luggage.

Louis shushes him. “What’s your point?”

“You want to-“

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Louis cuts him off by raising his hand. “He’s-“ he stops, turning his head to look at the entrance of the tent, then lowers his voice “he’s right outside, so I’d appreciate it if you stopped screaming about my sexual desires.”

Zayn laughs. “So you agree that I’m right.”

Louis ignores him and fishes out two shirts, his largest black one and yet another white shirt with the Vans logo on it, which he pulls over his head.

“Just so you know.” Zayn starts, shuffling on his knees towards the entrance. “If you want to pursue your ‘sexual desires’, there are inflatable mattresses available at the shop. You know, in case you want a more…comfortable surface than the sleeping bag.”

Louis tries to find something to smack Zayn over the head with, but by the time he finds his slipper, Zayn is gone and Harry’s head is poking through the entrance.

“Whoa, what a welcoming.” Harry laughs when he sees Louis’ raised slipper.

“Shit, I thought Zayn was still here.”

“He went over to Niall’s to get some more alcohol.”

“Can you like…either go outside or come in because I’m picturing your birth right now…what with your head and everything.” Louis says and motions a circle around Harry’s head with his empty hand.

That makes Harry laugh (!!dimples!!) and unzip the tent to step inside.

Okay, deep breaths. One of the hottest guys Louis’ ever seen is in a closed space that takes about 6.4 cubic meters of space, and he’s-okay, he’s taking off his shirt.

“Here you go.” Louis says and hands him the black shirt.

The flashlight taped to the ceiling is pretty dim but Louis can still see his chiseled pecs and abs and fuck, he has to stop looking.

“Thanks.”

Louis pulls the shirt over his head and straightens it out with the palms of his hands. Are they supposed to go out now? Stay in a bit more? He’s not sure, but he knows for a fact that Harry can’t possibly like the smell in the tent.

“I miss camping.” Harry says, sparing Louis the task of thinking about something to say.

“You miss sleeping like sardines and having to go to the toilet in the woods?” Louis asks, looking for some socks. “Fuck, can you hold this flashlight over my bag so I can find some socks?”

Harry takes the small flashlight from the ceiling (of course Zayn only brought one and Louis brought none because he thought Zayn would bring more) and holds it so Louis’ bag is lit up.

Louis gets on his knees in front of his bag and rummages through it.

“I miss doing stuff like that with my family. Before my sister went off to college and my parents buried themselves in work, we used to go camping twice a year. My mother thought it was a good way to bond.”

“Was it?”

Harry laughs and shakes his head. “Not really. We would always fight over who has more space and who gets the blanket, but it was fun. For some reason we kept doing that until Gemma moved to London for college and then I got the deal and we drifted apart.”

Louis would ask him where he actually grew up but they both know that he’s read the Wikipedia page already.

“So do you see them rarely now or-aha!” Louis exclaims when he finds the clean pair he was looking for.

“I mean, I try to get them to as many of my shows as possible whenever I can and I always go home for Christmas and Easter, but that’s about it. We’re all busy…all the time.”

There’s a sadness in his voice that Louis can detect from miles away, so he quickly thinks of a way to shift the conversation to something lighter.

“I went camping with my family once. Never again.”

He toes off his Vans and changes his socks before he asks Harry to shine light once again because apparently now would be a good time for him to also change pants.

“Why never again?” Harry laughs.

“Oh, there were five of us at the time, I was the only boy except of my stepfather and it was chaos.”

“You have four siblings?”

Louis shakes his head. “Six now.”

“Wow. Big family.”

“Yeah. Gotta love ‘em though.” Louis shrugs.

“You and your sister seem pretty close.”

Louis takes out a pair of joggers and sits down to get to work. One of the worst things about living in a tent is definitely having to change clothes, because there’s not enough space to stand up.

“Lottie? Yeah, she’s the oldest.”

“The one who kept screaming into the phone.”

“Right, sorry about that. She’s a huge fan apparently.” Louis says and unbuttons his pants before lifting his ass off to pull them down his legs.

Harry’s on the other side of the tent with his legs crossed under himself (which isn’t even that far because it’s a _tent_ ), looking at his face and definitely _not_ his bare legs.

“Not a crazy fan though.” Louis adds, lifting his ass once again to pull the joggers on.

“Do you play football?” Harry asks out of a sudden.

“What? Oh, yeah, I mean, if you count getting together with some friends and kicking around a ball, then sure. But I used to play in school. And uni. Why?”

Harry’s eyes travel down to Louis’ legs for a second. “You have footballer legs.”

And now Louis’ blushing.

“Uh…thanks.”

“I’m sorry-was that-that was creepy, wasn’t it.” Harry nervously laughs and shakes his head at himself.

“No, it’s alright. Flattering even.” Louis assures him with a smile.

It’s quite obvious that Louis has finished what he came into the tent for, but Harry doesn’t point it out, so Louis does.

“So…I’m done with my work here. Do you want to go-“

“Are you?” Harry interrupts.

“Am I what?”

“Done. With your work…here.”

The atmosphere shifts and nearly strangles Louis. Okay, he might be pissed and turned on but Harry’s eyes just fell on his lips for a split of a second. That, or Louis is seeing things. Again.

“Uh…I think so.”

Fuckfuckfuck what is he supposed to do right now? He’d grab him and kiss him right here right now if he wasn’t getting so many mixed signals.

“Don’t you?” he asks, watching Harry’s face.

“I think you should keep your promise.”

Louis frowns. “What promise?”

“If I get your job right we’re doing body shots.”

“Ha!” Louis snorts. “But you didn’t get it right in the first two tries AND Zayn told you.”

Okay, why the fuck is he even arguing this??

Harry bites his lip and shakes his head, smiling.

“But okay.”

Harry’s eyes light up and Louis is absolutely mesmerized about how pretty someone can be after ten hours of festival.

“Do I have something on my face?” Harry asks, pressing his palms against his cheeks.

“Yeah, there’s still some glitter there.” Louis tells him, but they both know he’s lying.

“Where?”

Louis points to the right side of Harry’s face. (Harry had glitter on the left side of his face. They both know it. Neither of them says something.)

“I can’t.” Harry says when he rubs that side and looks down at his palm to find it clean.

“Do you want me to-“ Louis suggests and Harry nods. That’s pretty much everything Louis needs to starts pulling himself with the soles of his feet closer to him.

Harry wraps his fingers around Louis’ ankles and pulls at them, which has Louis sliding over in a second, legs over Harry’s knees and around his sides.

“Just…over here.” Louis lies and flicks the left side of Harry’s face with his fingers.

“I thought it was the other side.” Harry observes and of course his breath has to smell like lemons and mints, of course.

“Yeah I can’t…” Louis trails off, because he _swears_ Harry’s face just came closer.

“You have some too.” Harry points out. ~~They both know he’s lying~~.

“Really? Where?”

Harry points to his lips and Louis is dead. He’s absolutely-

“Is it safe to open the tent?” they hear Zayn’s voice from outside.

“Yeah you dickhead. I’m just coming out.” Louis says, pulling himself back and away from Harry.

He shifts to his knees as Harry coughs and unzips the tent to meet Zayn. Oh, how he would absolutely love to tell him to fuck off right about now, but the moment is ruined.

“Didn’t you forget your shoes?” Zayn asks and Louis looks down at his socked feet.

“Right, yeah.”

He pushes his head through the opening, just to bump foreheads with Harry, who was on his way out.

“Can you um…hand me my shoes over there?” Louis asks and points to the Vans in the corner.

Harry hands him the shoes. “You know, now I kind of get the whole birth scenario.”

Louis laughs and struggles to put his shoes on while Zayn and Harry wait.

“I really hope you had a good reason for coming back to the tent.” Louis grits his teeth at Zayn once they’re at Niall’s, which, from what it looks like, became the party area of the camp while Louis was gone.

There are people everywhere, laughing and enjoying themselves, but Louis only wants to scream at his best friend.

“I came to find you. Tequila shots.” Zayn tells him and it’s settled, Louis has to strangle him.

“LOUIS! SHOTS!” he hears Niall scream, so he turns around. He lost Harry, but right now he has to get some sense into himself by taking a few more shots with his favorite person.

“We already did a round of beer pong, where were you?”

“Uh…had to change.” Louis says and spots Harry talking to the same girl he was talking to a couple of nights before who basically laughed in his face for not knowing who ‘Styles’ was.

“Body shots anyone?!”

Louis and Niall look towards the voice. The girl Harry was talking to has him by the hand now and they’re walking over. “Harry’s up for it!”

Niall agrees immediately, bless him, and they empty the biggest table they can find. Two more people, one of them being Zayn, gather around the table for body shots.

“Who wants to go first?” Niall asks and the girl raises her hand.

“Amber wants to.” Harry observes with a smile and Amber pokes her friend in the side as she lays down on the table. She’s already wearing a crop top so she just licks her lips and waits.

“Who wants to do the honors?”

“Harry.” Amber asks and Louis sees her friend fishing out her phone from her pocket, so he gets in front of her to block the view of the phone. It makes his skin crawl, thinking about these people filming Harry just so they can gloat afterwards.

Niall pours Tequila in her belly and she places a slice of lemon in her mouth while Harry sprinkles salt on his hand.

“One, two, three!” Zayn counts down and the music blasts through the speakers as Harry licks the salt off his hand, sucks on her belly, and then lifts his head to take the lemon from her mouth.

Amber is very excited when he gets off the table and walks over to her friend. Meanwhile Zayn urges Louis to do a shot off him and Louis agrees, because why the fuck not.

“Did you get it?” he hears Amber whispering to her friend.

“Not really, this guy was standing in front of the camera.”

“Fuck, Bella. You had one job.”

They keep arguing in hushed tones and Louis would love to keep on listening if it weren’t for his best friend laying on a table with his shirt up to his chin.

“Nice tattoos.” Harry observes from his spot next to Niall, who has just been joined by Shawn.

Zayn winks. “Thanks.”

Louis leaves the salt out as he licks Zayn’s belly and goes for the lemon wedged in his mouth.

“Did you just wink at him.” Louis says through gritted teeth as he sucks on the lemon that’s still in Zayn’s mouth.

“He’s hot.”

Louis pulls away and Zayn spits the lemon out in the empty cup before getting up.

Shawn does Niall next and after two more rounds that don’t involve Harry, the two girls tell him that they have to go find some friends but that they’ll be back.

Liam has joined and Harry is eager to pursue him to lay down for a body shot which he wants to drink himself. Once again, salt on the back of his hand, he gets to work.

Louis isn’t really watching, not ~~just~~ because it’s turning him on, but because he’s busy talking to Zayn who is trying to convince him to get on the table and let Harry lick his belly.

“Zayn. Zayn. Right now I’m 90% sure he’s not…interested.”

“I thought it was the other way around.”

It was, until Amber and Bella came along and ate out of the palm of Harry’s hand, who didn’t seem to mind the female attention.

“Louis, babe, please.” Niall invites him and Louis turns around to look at the empty table in front of him.

“Fine.” Louis sighs and sits down on the table before Shawn pushes by his chest to get him to lay down completely so he can take a shot.

Zayn pulls his phone out and starts filming as Louis pulls his shirt up to his pecs.

It tickles Louis’ stomach when he does so and the second the lemon wedge is out of his mouth, he asks Niall for the bottle. How else can he stop thinking about licking Harry’s tattoos if not by taking a small shot straight from the bottle?

“You’re doing amazing sweetie.” Zayn mocks, bending down to get a better angle.

“My turn.” Harry says and Louis looks at Liam, who doesn’t even bat an eye, and then at Niall, who’s already handing over the salt and pouring the Tequila in his belly.

Zayn smirks, still filming. Louis makes a face to get him to stop filming and Zayn understands, even in his inebriated state.

Harry sprays salt all the way from Louis ribcage to his belly.

“Three, two, go!” Niall exclaims and slams his fist against the table. Harry pulls at Louis’ ankles, much like he did back in the tent, to get his ass to the edge of the table so he’s between Louis’ legs.

Louis’ in a trance. He watches Harry’s tongue dart out to his belly to suck the Tequila out, hands on the table on each side of him, before they move up to rest on his waist. There are muscles everywhere and Louis’ mind is foggy.

Harry looks up to meet Louis’ eyes and Louis can _see_ that asshole smirk he’s seen before, fuck him. The eye contact doesn’t break, not even for one second, as Harry trails his tongue up, away from Louis’ belly, following the line of salt.

Louis’ skin isn’t tickling anymore, it’s on fucking fire, starting with the pool in his belly and ending in the back of his throat where he can _feel…_ everything, everything pulsing through his veins he doesn’t even know what to call it. It’s just everything. Harry’s tongue leaves him cold for a second but then the lemon is grabbed out of his mouth and it’s over. Their lips didn’t even touch, but everything in-between was just…way too much for Louis’ body to handle.

It’s then that he realizes he hasn’t had sex in…he even lost count. That’s it. It’s the lack of sex.

He gets up from the table, almost bumping heads with Harry for the second time in twenty minutes, but Harry steps back and takes out the lemon from his mouth, smirking.

“What are you smirking at?” He asks, pulling his shirt back down.

Harry shrugs. “Nothing. Hey, do you want to do me next?”

Louis’ mouth falls open. “What…“ _Itwouldbemyfuckingpleasure-oh wait, that’s not what you meant“…_ I don’t think I can go for another shot right now.”

Harry pouts but Niall offers to do it instead, so Louis leaves them be. He’s on a mission to find food and water, but he ends up in Niall’s giant ass tent where people are doing everything but drinking water and eating food.

He somehow ends up smoking a spliff with a few of Niall’s Irish friends and then dances between a guy and a girl who nearly ask him for a threesome, but he gets out in time.

He finds Zayn half an hour later chatting with Shawn over a cigarette and pulls out one of his own. Shawn lights it for him before he starts up a conversation Louis wasn’t expecting.

“Do you want me to ask Niall to invite Harry tomorrow as well?”

Louis chokes on his cigarette. “What? No.”

His train of thought is interrupted when he sees Harry talking to Amber, who gets on her tiptoes to hug him before she leaves once again. She’s got glitter on her face and Harry can see some of it in Harry’s hair and temples, which doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

Great, so that mystery is cleared up.

“I need to take a piss.” Louis says and leaves, cigarette in one hand, gin and tonic in the other.

The toilets are empty except for one cubicle which is closed and has moans coming out of it, so Louis speeds things up and leaves, wishing that were him. Not even with Harry, literally with someone. Anyone.

In his drunken state, he makes a deal with himself that he’ll literally stick his tongue down the throat of the next person he sees. The plan has to wait though, because he needs to sit down right now. He starts walking and as soon as he spots a few deserted camping tables and chairs by the fence next to the shower truck, he walks over.

He sips on his drink as he checks Instagram and Twitter. Coachella is trending but he’s too drunk to check, so he composes a message to Lottie.

 **Louis:** wathcy doinghg

 **Lottie:** are u drunk at 10 in the morning??

Louis checks the time, then leans against the table for stability.

 **Louis:** itss 2an hwere

 **Lottie:** then why are you texting your sister

 **Lottie:** when you could be doing other stuff

Louis wants to ask what stuff, but he hears a commotion a few meters away and looks up to see Harry walking down the steps of the shower, looking confused.

“Fuck.” He mutters and sits up on the table, leaning back against his palms to observe.

Harry looks around confused, before he walks back up the stairs. He disappears for a few minutes, then a shower goes off, then it stops. Louis looks over to the camp site where faint music can be heard and decides to text Zayn to ask him where he is.

Just as he sends the text, his phone beeps.

 **Zayn:** wehrheh are uuuu

“Louis?”

Fuck.

He looks up. “Yeah.”

Harry is walking over now, running a hand through his hair, looking ridiculous in that tight shirt that’s actually Louis’.

“You seemed a bit confused back there.” Louis observes and places his phone down next to him on the table.

“Yeah I thought it was the toilets and then I decided to find the toilets but then I couldn’t so I just-well you get where I’m getting at.”

“Not really.” Louis lies, smiling.

“So why did you disappear?”

“Uff, I went to dance in the tent and then out for a smoke. You seemed busy.”

Harry frowns. “When?”

“When I saw you.” Louis shrugs. “But I’m really glad you’re having fun.”

“Well, I am now.” Harry smiles, and it’s that fucking smile where his tongue pokes out between his teeth, in an asshole-but-not-quite type of way.

“Oh, and why is that?”

Fuck it, Louis can still flirt.

“You’d love to know, wouldn’t you?”

And as it turns out, Harry definitely likes flirting back. Or maybe Louis is-fuck, no. Louis isn’t _anything_.

“Yeah. Want some?” Louis asks, changing the subject by holding up his plastic cup filled with Gin and Tonic.

“What’s in there?”

Louis looks at the cup. “Gin and Tonic.”

“Oh, good.”

Harry sucks on the straw and Louis takes this time to look at how broad his shoulders are as he stands there, sipping from the drink as Louis sits on the table, feet dangling under it.

“Bit strong.”

Louis shrugs, taking the drink back. “’s how I like it.”

“You like it strong.” Harry repeats.

“Mhmm. The drink.”

“You’re one of the few people I’ve met who prefer Gin.”

Louis’ eyes widen. “I know! I swear, my ex used to absolutely hate-“

“So you’re not dating anyone?” Harry chirps up.

“No, that was a long time ago.” Louis laughs, but makes a note to his sober self in the morning that Harry _asked_. “But yeah, she used to scrunch her nose every time we went out and it got annoying. Amongst other stuff.”

“Oh.” Harry’s face falls.

“What?”

Did he just say ‘oh’ to what Louis thinks?

“It’s a she?”

Louis nods. “So?”

“Nothing, it’s just-I don’t know.”

Louis raises his eyebrows. “What did you think?”

He knows Harry’s uncomfortable about it but he wants to see how far he can push it.

“I’m sorry-I don’t like it either when people just assume my sexuality-“

“Oh, no, it’s fine. There were boys as well.”

Louis _swears_ that Harry’s shoulders just relaxed. Fuck Zayn for being around so they can analyze it later.

“So you’re…bi?” Harry asks as if he’s contemplating the meaning of life.

Louis nods. “What did you think I was?”

“I don’t know. But I definitely knew you were flirting.”

Louis laughs, throwing his head back. “Wow, you definitely like flattering yourself.”

“Am I wrong?” Harry asks, and Louis feels like the air just ran out of…the air. Shit, they’re not even between four walls and he still feels like he can’t breathe.

“Well…not really. But you were also flirting.”

“Was I?”

Louis points an accusatory finger at him. “Oh don’t you try spinning this around, I caught you first.”

“Okay, that’s fair.” Harry laughs and places his hands on either side of Louis’ thighs, leaning back. “What gave me away?”

“I mean, if anything, the way you’re standing right now is.”

“What’s wrong with this?”

Louis shakes his head. “Absolutely nothing. But let the record show, you’re flirting.”

His eyes catch the glitter in his hair and on his temple. It bugs him, a lot.

“Wanna know a secret?” Harry asks, lowering his voice.

“Hm?”

Harry nods his head for Louis to come closer, so Louis does, leaning in to press his ear against Harry’s lips.

“Your shirt is really small.”

Louis huffs and pulls back. “Wanker. Do _you_ want to know a secret?”

“Always.” Harry answers, not missing a beat.

Louis turns his head so he can whisper into Harry’s ear. The baby hairs by Harry’s neck tickle his nose as he struggles to find the words without sounding jealous.

“You’ve got some glitter on your face.”

“Yeah?” Harry asks and turns his head, catching Louis’ lips with his.

Okay, so Louis’ dead, for one, but comes back from the dead to place a hand on the back of Harry’s neck and pull him closer. He opens his mouth, drowning in Harry’s smell and his hair and his fucking-fuck.

Harry moves his hands from where they were resting on the table to the back of Louis’ knees and pulls him towards himself. He kisses just as good as he can sing, Louis thinks and throws his arms around Harry’s neck while their mouths move in sync.

It’s electrifying, and it feels like he just stepped out of the shower because all the hairs on his body are standing up, even though it’s warm out. He moans into the kiss and feels like he could cry from how turned on he is.

Harry’s hands slide up from his knees to the sides of his thighs, so Louis locks his ankles around his legs to bring him closer, if even possible.

“You know-” kiss “that-” kiss “you actually have-” kiss “glitter on-” kiss “your face, right?” he says out of breath and pulls his head back to look at Harry.

“Oh.” Harry says, not moving an inch. “I thought it was an invitation to kiss you since…the tent, I think.”

Louis shakes his head and smiles as he pulls Harry back in, mouth already opened. He squeaks when Harry grabs under his ass and turns pulls him off the table so he’s basically holding him, before he turns around and sits down on the table.

Louis kicks his legs out on the table behind Harry, trying to focus on being a good kisser all the while wondering whether this is his actual life or he’s just imagining the fact that he’s kissing the hottest guy on the planet.

“How long have you been waiting to do that?” Louis asks during a short kissing break that was caused by Harry’s hands sliding down to cup his ass.

“Just now.” Harry answers, lying his ass off.

“Liar.”

“Fine. Today when I saw you with the glitter and everything.”

“So it was the glitter.”

Harry nods. “Definitely, I’m a bit disappointed now, but oh well.”

“Asshole.” Louis smirks and kisses him again, because he’s not sure how many more chances he’ll get.

“Fuck, you’re so…hot.” Harry breathes when Louis starts kissing his neck and sliding his hands down to Harry’s pants.

“As I’ve been told.” Louis retorts and Harry pulls at his hair, which causes Louis’ mouth to break away from his neck.

“And feisty.”

Louis grins through his teeth, looking up at the sky through hazy eyes. “And you’re like a shower of compliments.”

“I haven’t had someone talk back to me in four years.” Harry groans into Louis’ neck.

“And it gets you off?” Louis laughs, turning his head to find Harry’s lips.

“Not necessarily, but it’s exciting. Like, you don’t even give a shit.”

Louis smiles into the kiss and cups Harry’s hard-on through his pants. “You know something I’ve always wanted to do?”

“Hmm?” Harry asks and follows Louis’ lips as he pulls back.

“To make someone come in their pants.” Louis says, eyes shining.

“You really don’t give a fuck.” Harry gulps, licking his lips.

“You think I can?” Louis asks, pressing a kiss to his lips before he takes Harry’s bottom lip between his teeth as he rubs him through his jeans. He lets Harry’s lip go and rolls his hips against him.

“Fuuuck, yeah…I think you’re on the good path, shit.”

“Oh yeah baby, give me that dirty rockstar talk.” Louis fake moans and Harry pulls at his hair again.

“Shut up.”

Louis makes his eyes go wide, teasing. “Make me.” he whispers, lips touching Harry’s.

“Fuck.” Is the only thing Harry has left to say before he’s kissing him again, harder.

Louis’ hand is between their bodies, and he makes sure to grind in sync with it, which feels good for both of them, because Harry’s grinding upwards to match Louis’ movements.

“On a scale of one to ten.” Harry says, pulling away. “How bad would it be if I fucked you on this table?”

Louis’ body bursts into flames at that and his dick twitches, begging for more room.

“People could walk by. And who said you get to do the fucking?” Louis teases, squeezing his cock.

Harry moans. “Or you could, if you want-but you’re so fucking…I don’t even know.”

“I’m just taking the piss.” Louis laughs and kisses him again. “People could walk by, that’s all. And I don’t fuck on the first date.”

Lie.

“You need to wine and dine me and all that shit before I even think about it.”

Lieeee.

“I swear I will, fuck me. I will.” Harry breathes and Louis laughs, even though he knows that’ll never happen, ever. But he doesn’t think about it right now.

Right now, he thinks about kissing Harry again and grinding down on him even harder, so he does.

“You’re going to kill me.” Harry lets him know when Louis squeezes his cock again and rubs him through his jeans.

Louis pouts. “That would be such a shame.”

“Why?”

So Harry is really into (sort-of) dirty talk huh.

“Well for one, because the Coachella people will lose a lot of money if you don’t perform tomorrow and who will all these people melt over if not you?”

“Shit, right, I have a show tomorrow.”

Louis kisses down his neck. “Technically, it’s today.”

Harry moans when Louis sneaks his fingers into the waistband of his briefs and cups him. “Your hands are cold.”

“Your dick isn’t complaining.” Louis huffs and licks behind his left ear, which has Harry jolt, cock twitching, and then there’s warm liquid on his hand.

Louis pulls out his hand which has taken the majority of his come and looks down at it. “Your dick is definitely _not_ complaining.”

Harry lets out a strained laugh. “Ha, fuck. I never came so fast in my life I think. Or in my fuckin’ pants.”

“There’s a first.” Louis laughs and then licks his fingers clean as Harry watches in awe.

“Where did you come from.” Harry states more than asks.

“Doncaster.”

Harry shakes his head and grabs Louis’ ass so he can stand up and turn them around once again, placing Louis on the table. He pulls him so he’s standing now, leaning against it, and pulls down his joggers.

“Fuck, Harry, wait.” Louis panics, even though he won’t last longer than one more minute. He looks around and watches the path that leads to the tents. There hasn’t been a single person since they started kissing but it’s about to happen, he can feel it.

Harry disappears from his line of vision and Louis looks down to see him on his knees.

“You’re crazy.” Louis says and places a hand on his head as Harry takes him into his mouth, groaning. “And really goo-ood.”

Harry gives the head a soft lick before he takes him into his mouth, all the way to where his cock ends and his balls start, tongue taped to the bottom.

“Fu’ my ‘outh.” Harry says and Louis does just that as he keeps his head still.

It takes about five thrusts until he can feel the come pooling in the pit of his balls so he warns Harry, who doesn’t pull back.

“I’m going to-aah fuuck.” Louis gasps and then comes, right into Harry’s mouth, who swallows everything in one go and then pulls off.

He stands back up and wipes his mouth, smiling, just as Louis hears voices getting closer and closer.

“Perfect timing.” He laughs and pulls his pants up.

They turn their heads to see two guys drunkenly stumbling over to the showers as they hold onto eachother, not even paying attention to their surroundings.

Harry takes his phone out to check the time.

“Shit it’s almost three. I should find Liam…” He says as he looks at Louis, who’s busy wiping his hands off his joggers before he runs them through his hair.

“And I should find Zayn.” Louis agrees, neither of them moving from their spots.

Harry looks down at Louis’ shiny lips. “Maybe in five minutes.”

“Yea-“ Louis says and doesn’t even get to finish the word, because Harry’s already kissing him.

***

They go back to their friends ten minutes later, just to find them where they left them at Niall’s giant tent.

“Where were you?” Zayn asks when he sees Louis talking to Shawn and Liam.

“Uh…went to find the loo.”

“You were gone for about thirty minutes though.”

Zayn’s eyes wander off to Harry, who’s a few meters away, and whose hair is so fucked it shows.

“I see.” He smirks. “Had fun at the loo?”

Louis licks his lips. “Wasn’t bad. They’re really…clean.”

He knows Zayn isn’t that stupid, but oh well.

“You know I’m not stupid, right?”

Louis nods and pats him on the shoulder. “I know mate.”

The party dies down fifteen minutes later when everyone starts going back to their own tents to get some sleep, so Harry and Liam come over to say their goodbyes.

“We’re going to go back to the hotel now, this one’s got a show at nine today.” Liam says and nods over to Harry, who’s texting someone on his phone.

“He’s closing the festival.” Niall adds and walks over to wrap an arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Well not really, Coldplay comes after but he’s basically closing the show.”

Harry nods and finally looks up to meet Louis’ eyes. “I’ll see you all tomorrow-or in a few hours, then.”

Louis smiles and watches them walk away before he turns to Zayn, who’s already watching him.

“We’re also going mate.” Zayn tells Niall, who is a bit busy trying to keep a straight face.

“Okay, meet us at the VIP bar at three?”

Louis agrees and then they’re off towards their own tent. He thinks it’ll take Zayn about ten seconds before he starts asking questions.

“So what did you do?”

Okay, only five seconds then.

“I had fun.” Louis cryptically answers.

Zayn rolls his eyes and stops in front of their tent to put the lock combination in. “Doing _what_?”

“Stuff.”

“What stuff?”

Louis sighs and waits for his best friend to enter the tent before he goes in after him.

“Fun stuff.”

He’s not sure whether Harry would like it if he talked about their ‘fun stuff’, even though Louis knows Zayn would never tell a soul.

“Don’t you want to tell me or why are you avoiding my questions?” Zayn asks as he takes his clothes off save for his briefs and changes into something more comfortable to sleep in.

“I just…I don’t know.”

Zayn’s phone vibrates and he smirks as he reads the message on the screen.

“Who’s that?”

Zayn looks up from his phone. “Niall.”

Louis doesn’t say anything else as he changes into his pyjamas and gets into his sleeping bag. He doesn’t want to talk about it with Zayn right now, he needs it to be his thing for a bit longer.

“Okay, so we kissed.” Louis finally gives in when the flashlight is turned off and there’s dark silence.

“I know.”

Louis turns on his side to face Zayn. “How do you know?”

“Kind of figured, you know. You left with good hair and everything and then you both came back all smiling and Harry’s glitter was even more messed up.”

So as it turns out, there’s not much Louis can keep from his best friend.

“Yeah, well, that was it. Just a bit of…fun.”

“I’m happy for you.”

Louis closes his eyes and turns to face the ceiling. “I mean, it was a one time thing. I won’t-it won’t happen again. But it was really…really nice. Good.”

“I can imagine.”

There’s a moment of silence in which neither of them say anything.

Then Louis speaks up.

“Niall texted and told you, didn’t he.”

“Yeah.”

Louis shakes his head. So Harry isn’t that secretive after all, and he really doesn’t give a shit about what people think.

“Well then, goodnight.” Louis says.

“If you have a dirty dream about it and start humping me I will slap you.”

Louis extends his arm and smacks him over the face. Zayn laughs and wishes him goodnight.

And what a good night it is.

***

They don’t meet Niall and the rest of the group at 3pm because they wake up way too late and Lost Frequencies plays at 3:30, but they join them at five, one hour before The Script plays the big stage.

Of course Louis’ last day outfit is the best yet, because he’s wearing his best black ‘look at my ass’ jeans (as Zayn called them once and it stuck), his black ‘Skate Tough’ tank and black Vans.

Louis’ heart starts beating faster when he sees Harry’s back as he’s leaning against the VIP bar chatting to Kendall Jenner. And now, he’s been thinking about the free Gin and Tonics by the VIP bar all day, but going over there would just make Harry think that he’s trying to get attention.

“Can you bring me a GT from the bar?” he asks Zayn instead.

“Why?” Zayn looks over to the bar and understands. “Don’t tell me you’re being shy now.”

Louis looks back to Harry, who’s laughing now as Kendall rubs his arm, laughing as well.

“I’m not-I just don’t want him to think I’m obsessed after last night.”

“He won’t, come on. You’re with me.”

Louis follows him reluctantly and pretends that he doesn’t even see Harry at the bar at first.

“Hi.”

Oh here we go.

He turns around to greet Harry and tries to keep it calm as he gives Kendall a short nod as well.

“I’m Kendall.” She smiles and Louis shakes her hand, introducing himself.

“Is it french?” she asks.

“Don’t really know, but the pronunciation maybe.” He nervously laughs, sparing a glance at Harry. He looks…wow. He’s wearing black jeans and a simple black shirt with the sleeves rolled up and his tattoos are just too much for Louis to handle, so he looks away.

“Did you sleep well?” Harry asks, moving closer to Louis and leaving Kendall behind him.

“Yeah, like a baby. You?”

Harry nods. “The fact that I wasn’t hungover is a big relief though.”

“Same. I think I got pretty sober at…the end of the night.” Louis trails off and asks for a Gin and Tonic to get his mind off Harry.

“So what’s your lineup for the rest of the day?” Harry asks when Louis and Zayn get their drinks and walk over to their table, Kendall completely forgotten.

“Well there’s The Script at six and then I’m thinking of sticking around and watching that indie singer…what was his name again?” Louis jokes and Harry smiles, eyes crinkling and dimples showing.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not _that_ indie.” Harry corrects him and Louis waves it off.

“So yeah, that guy, and then Coldplay at the end. It’s what I came here for.”

Liam and Niall are starting a game of Battleshots at the table and they invite Harry and Louis to join them as their opposite team.

“But three shots per person, otherwise I won’t make it to my show.” Harry warns and they all agree that they’ll do three shots each.

Louis sits down next to Harry, across the table from Liam and Niall, who are already discussing tactics in hushed tones. Zayn is over to another table talking to Shawn and Niall’s friends, who are trying to set up a makeshift beer pong game.

“Place that one here.” Louis tells Harry and moves a shot on B3. They’ve got all the B’s covered and then A2 and D1.

“You sure it’s going to work?” Harry asks, looking down at their battleground.

“I’m sure. I’ve played before, you know.”

Harry raises his hands up in defense, laughing. “Alright, alright. I never have.”

“So it looks like this festival is filled with all types of firsts for you.” Louis jokes and watches Harry’s tongue dart out over his bottom lip.

“Yeah. I like it.”

Okay, is the sexual tension back or is it just Louis?

“Let’s drown them.” Harry then adds and pats Louis’ thigh.

So it’s not just Louis.

“Okay we start.” Louis says and nobody really questions it, so he chooses B3 and Niall takes the shot.

“C1.”

Harry looks down at their field and shakes his head. “No. A1.”

It goes on like that until Harry drinks all his shots and all three of Louis’ are still intact, meanwhile Niall and Liam both have one more left.

“Okay, did we say D4 already? There’s always one in the corner.” Louis whispers to Harry, who shakes his head.

“D4.”

Liam curses and raises his glass to down his third shot.

“Okay, B4.” Niall says and Louis drinks.

“They’ve got one more, think.” Louis tells Harry.

Harry laughs. “I’m trying, but I forgot what we said until now. Okay, fine. Um, A4.”

Niall shakes his head and Louis curses, saying that they’ve said that number already.

“C2.”

“Ha! No. Okay, D3.”

Niall yells and takes his last shot, which has Harry high-fiving Louis.

“To celebrate, you drink one and I drink one.” Louis tells him and Harry agrees, so they knock the shot glasses together and drink them.

“I think we should start heading over to The Script.” Zayn joins into the conversation, motioning at his watch.

“You coming?” Louis asks Harry before he can stop himself.

“I did.” Harry answers in a low voice and Louis’ eyes widen as he looks around to see if anyone heard.

“Shhh, I meant to see The Script.”

Harry laughs. “I know. Yeah, I can stay for an hour or so.”

Louis tries not to show the fact that he’s happy to hear it, so he sets on getting the rest of the group to get their stuff and leave.

A group of girls join them (friends of Niall’s, came only on the third day) on their way towards the Coachella Stage and they find good spots on the left side, close to the first row.

“Whenever you need a shoulder ride, just pat me on the shoulder.” Harry says into Louis’ ear as commercials play on the big screen, and Louis nearly spills his beer because he’s way too close.

“Will do. During Hall of Fame is a good moment.”

Harry nods and steps back so he’s directly behind Louis, just as the lights go out.

Louis spends the whole concert screaming along to every word with Zayn, who nearly cries during ‘Breakeven’, just like he cried nearly a decade ago in Manchester.

“Oh my God, not again.” Louis laughs and leans back into Harry to film Zayn going off during the song.

“You saw them live before?” Harry asks into Louis’ ear, placing his hands on Louis’ waist from behind.

“Yeah, in Manchester.”

“Really? I saw them once too.”

Louis keeps filming but turns his head, nose hitting Harry’s chin. “When?”

Harry shrugs. “2009 a week after my fifteenth.”

“Are you- wait. When are you born?”

Louis tries to remember if Harry’s in February or September, but Harry lets him know that it was in February.

“At the Apollo? On the 8th?”

Harry excitedly nods. “Yes!”

“Oh my God, I was there!” Louis yells back and stops the video, because the piano part in Hall of Fame can be heard through the speakers.

He pats Harry’s shoulder, who’s already crouching down anyway. Louis smiles at the sky as he parts his legs and goes from seeing Zayn’s back to seeing over the head’s of the first few rows.

Liam and Niall take two other girls on their shoulders to join Louis and a girl points to a photographer by the barriers and then hands Louis a corner of the Irish flag.

Louis laughs and takes it, all while he’s singing along to the lyrics.

It ends way too soon and he’s already being let down on the ground.

“I need to go get ready, I go on stage in thirty.” Harry says, leaning down to whisper into his ear. “I’ll see you after?”

Louis nods and winks before he turns to Zayn and tells him that they have to get as close to the front as possible.

“Are you planning on singing along this time?” Zayn asks during the break and Louis crouches down to get some tension off his legs.

“Well I only know the one song.”

Zayn lights up a cigarette and crouches down next to him to hand the girls, who have sat down as soon as the break started, a lighter.

The lights go out five minutes later and the energy Louis felt two nights before has grown even more. That familiar electric guitar blasts through the speakers, then drums, and then silence again. The Rubiks cube appears again, before it all goes black and the drummer starts his job.

“Goood evening Coacheeelllaaa!” Harry screams and the lights come on, revealing him and taking Louis’ breath out of his lungs at the same time.

He’s wearing leather pants now, topped off with a white blouse with long sleeves and ruffles around his neck.

“Fuck me.” he breathes and Zayn laughs when he hears it.

“How’s everyone feeling tonight?”

Cue the screams.

Harry takes the microphone stand and walks over to the right side of the stage. “You know, I have to say, this weekend is the first time I’ve performed here, and I quite like it.”

Leave it to Harry to speak the way a posh English man does.

“This weekend has been filled with firsts for me, so I wanted to thank you guys for that.”

Louis smiles as he bites down on his bottom lip, cheeks hurting.

“Do you know what he’s talking about?” Zayn coyly asks and Louis ignores him. He knows Zayn takes that as an answer.

“Let’s see if you’re reaaaady!” Harry screams and then starts off with the same song he started two days ago, the one with the cigarettes and the woman with the baby.

Louis wonders whether that actually happened or if it’s something Harry made up, so he makes a mental note to ask him about it later.

After a while, Harry comes over to their side of the stage and even winks at Louis at one point, but he doesn’t get to be happy about it because the group in front of him thinks it was for them.

The song Louis knows finally comes and he makes sure to scream it from the top of his lungs to show some support (not that 50000 or more people haven’t shown their support until now).

Harry takes a water break close to the end and struts over to the left side with a smile.

“I see a lot of colorful signs tonight as well. ‘Harry punch me in the face’! Lovely.” Harry laughs and the crowd laughs along with him.

“I need to go use the loo before it gets too crowded, be right back.” Louis says and Niall cracks up.

“You don’t really want to do that right now mate.”

Louis frowns but shrugs it off and starts heading towards the toilets.

“Oh, I see someone is already getting bored.” He hears Harry’s voice through the speakers but doesn’t make anything of it.

“Excuse me, in the black Skate Tough shirt?”

He stops in his tracks and looks at the stage in disbelief, just to see Harry looking right at him, eyes shimmering on the big screen.

“Am I boring you?”

“No!” Louis screams and shakes his head, laughing.

“I think I remember you, you were the one talking to your sister on Friday.” Harry says and the crowd goes wild.

“I was!” Louis yells and then flips him off before he tries to squeeze between people who are staring at him in awe.

He manages to get back to the group just as Harry announces the song that doesn’t have a studio version.

“Coachella I want you to scream as loud as you can!” Harry says into the microphone and then licks his lips. “Let’s go.”

The guitar starts and then he’s belting on about how he’s here to take his medicine and how he’ll treat you like a gentleman.

“Up to your mouth, feeling it out…feeling it oOUUT!” Harry sings and runs his fingers over his lips. The fact that it’s shown on the big screen isn’t doing Louis any good at the moment.

Louis isn’t sure if it’s even legal to do that on live TV.

“And when I sleep I’m gonna dream of how you..”

“TAS!TED!” Louis screams and then starts jumping, thinking about how Harry is literally singing a song about cum. Or at least, it’s what Louis thinks the medicine is.

“Tingle running through my bones, fingers to my toes, tingle running through my bones. The boys and the girls are in, I mess around with HIM” Harry smirks and nods over to Louis “and I’m okay with it. I’m coming down, I figured out, I kinda like iiit.”

Louis could swear on his grave that Harry just looked at him, but so can everyone in front of him.

The chorus starts again and then there’s only guitar playing as the crowd claps along to the beat and Harry gulps before he presses his lips against the microphone. “I had a few, got drunk on Lou and now I’m was…ted.”

Louis isn’t really sure whether he heard it correctly but he turns to Niall and Zayn, whose expressions is everything he needs to see in order to know that he has in fact heard correctly.

The crowd goes wild and there’s a small moshpit going on during the last part, before Harry drops down to his knees as he screams the last lines.

The lights go off to get everyone of their high before they come back on and Harry gets onto his feet, panting.

“Coachella, thank you for two amazing nights! See you next weekend!” he screams and waits a few moments to take in the entire festival chanting his name. Louis wonders what it would be like to be up there and hear everyone screaming his name and his lyrics, and finds a whole other level of respect for Harry.

Some parts of the crowd clear out and they get even closer, but not as close as they were on the first day.

“Are we going to talk about how Harry Styles just sang to and about you?” Zayn asks and Louis can’t. Won’t.

“I’m unable to even.”

After Coldplay finish their first song, Louis spots Harry by the side of the stage, shaking people’s hand and taking photos with fans in the first row.

Niall jumps and waves at him, and as soon as Harry spots them, the dimples come out. He walks over to a security guard and says something into his ear before he walks to the barrier and throws a leg over it.

Louis’ heart starts beating faster as he watches the security guard help Harry get over the barrier and into the crowd, and twenty seconds later, Harry’s in front of him, smiling. The leather pants are still on but he’s wearing a tank top now and some of his hair is wet, sticking to his temples.

“You’re fuckin’ crazy!” Niall screams at Harry before he hugs him, congratulating on a new show.

“I saw you singing along at one point.” Harry whispers to Louis as Viva La Vida starts.

“I heard it way too many times on the radio while I was tattooing, but I had no idea who it was.” Louis laughs.

“I’m flattered.” Harry laughs and Louis pushes at his shoulder.

So they’re back to flirting then, even though there are a lot of people around them.

“Is that song about cum?” Louis then asks and Harry laughs.

“Which one?”

Louis gasps. “There’s more than one!?”

“Haha, not really. But Medicine yeah.”

“And you say you bring your family to your concerts.” Louis teases, shaking his head.

“I’m pretty sure they’ve heard worse.”

Before Louis can ask what he means by that, ‘Hymn for the weekend’ starts and Zayn grabs him, making a face because it’s one of their favorite songs.

He manages to forget that Harry is right there during Fix You and Lost, but then A Sky Full of Stars starts and he _needs_ to see everyone with their flashlights, so he turns around. Harry bends his chin and looks at him, knowing.

“Can I? Last time, I swear.”

Harry smiles and crouches down.

The view is absolutely breathtaking, so amazing Louis almost cries.

“’cause in a sky, in a sky full of stars…I THINK I SEE YOUUUUUU!” Louis screams and doesn’t even give a fuck if it can be heard in the video.

He turns his torso to get the people behind him as well and Harry does a full 360 degree turn so he can do it better, which Louis is extremely thankful for.

Harry keeps him on his shoulders during Paradise as well, and Louis doesn’t have to check his watch to know that the show is coming to an end, because they’re starting their most famous songs, and two songs later when he hears the chords to ‘Something Just Like This’, he knows. It’s ending.

He pats Harry on the head so he can have his moment with Zayn during the last song of the festival.

The crowd is screaming as he’s being let down on the ground and he turns to thank Harry.

“Thanks, really. For everything.” He smiles, trying not to let his sadness show.

“But she said, where'd you wanna go? How much you wanna risk? I'm not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts.“ Harry sings back, smiling as well.

Louis feels like he’s in another dimension, filled with lights and electricity and happiness, because he’s here with his best friend and everyone is singing along, flashes in the air.

“Some superhero, some fairytale bliss!” he sings and turns around to watch the stage.

He feels Harry’s arms sneak over his shoulders and he leans back into it, screaming ‘Oh I want something just like this’ in sync with every single person in the crowd.

He flatlines when he feels a pair of lips on his neck and wonders whether he should turn his head for a split of a second before he fucks it and does it.

Harry’s lips meet his and Louis leans into the kiss, fireworks exploding in his head. The kiss doesn’t last long, but it’s enough to get Louis to want way, way more.

He smiles at Harry when they pull apart and doesn’t even bother to look around to see who saw them kissing.

“Coachella, you were lovely!” Chris yells into the microphone. “See you soon!”

The crowd screams and Zayn’s already grabbing Louis’ hand as they head towards the exit.

“He kissed you.” Zayn tells Louis after they’ve gone back to the VIP area to get more drinks until the festival ends and they’re kicked out.

“Yeah, so?”

Zayn looks around to see that their group, including Harry, have already sat down at their table and there’s no way someone is listening.

“So, anyone could’ve seen it, and he just didn’t give a shit.”

“So?”

Louis isn’t sure where Zayn is going with this.

“So, it was kind of risky of him to do that and yet!!!”

“He kissed me for a few seconds, big deal.”

“It _is_ a big deal! Can’t you-“

They’re interrupted because Niall joins them at the bar and orders a round of beers for everyone, so Louis gives Zayn a look to go ahead and shut up before they head to the table.

It just so happens that there’s an empty seat next to Harry, which Louis happily takes.

“I don’t want the festival to end.” Louis pouts when Harry asks him why he’s being silent. “I like it here.”

“Oh, there’s something I wanted you to give you but I guess this is a good time as any.” Harry says and digs through the pockets of his jean jacket that Louis hadn’t even noticed he put on.

He takes out an envelope and hands it to Louis.

“Uh…thanks.”

Louis opens it quickly and pulls out two tickets that read _Harry Styles Live at London O2 arena, May2nd 2018, Premium Package_

“What is this?”

“You said your sister was a fan and I overheard your conversation on the phone about her having to save money for my show. I thought it would be a good surprise for her.”

Louis stares at the tickets. “Wow it’s-wow. Thank you I-I don’t really know what to say.”

“Say you’ll be the one to go with her.”

Louis nods. “Yeah, yeah of course. I’ll go with her.”

“The details about the time and everything is on the back. There’s also a Meet and Greet included in the Premium Package.”

“My sister is going to love this. And you just saved me from having to buy her a fancy birthday present.”

“When’s her birthday?”

“It’s in August, but these make up for the next three years I think.” Louis laughs as he puts them back into the envelope. “Thank you.”

A shiver runs through him and Harry frowns, asking if he’s cold, but before Louis can answer, Harry’s already taking off the jacket and handing it to him.

Louis accepts it and nearly wants to cry because it’s so big and cozy and smells like last night when they were making out.

“So you agree then that the money was worth it.” Zayn yells at him from across the table.

Louis raises his beer to him. “Cheers mate, yeah.”

There’s an incoming call from Lottie so he excuses himself and walks a few feet away to answer it, because he knows she’s going to start screaming for some reason.

“Hi Lottie.”

He knows it must be around eight in the morning in England but he doesn’t question it since it’s Monday over there and Lottie has work.

“LOUIS!” she screams. “Oh my God Louis! Everyone on Tumblr is going crazy!”

Louis sighs. “What for now?”

“Someone filmed Harry calling you out for going to the bathroom and then him jumping over the fence to get into the crowd after the show! Did he come to you?”

“He came to the group, yes.”

He’s not sure whether he should ask her if there’s any photos of them kissing, but that would mean telling his sister that they kissed. And she would never forget that. Might even tell her friends.

“Is that all?” he asks, trying to find a way around it.

“Pretty much, yeah. Why?! Is there something else?”

“No, no. Just that. But listen, I don’t want people to find out my name yeah?”

“Yes, of course, I-“ Lottie stops because her phone gets a notification. “LOUIS!!”

“What now.” Louis laughs, leaning against a wall.

“Harry Styles just followed me on Instagram I swear I’m shaking!”

Louis turns to look in Harry’s direction, just to see him already looking at him with a coy smirk on his face.

“This isn’t real right now. I have to go.” Lottie says and ends the call abruptly.

Louis shakes his head and walks back over to Harry.

“Did you just follow my sister on Instagram?”

“I did.”

“You know, you don’t have to do this, right?”

Harry nods. “I know, but I want to.”

Louis then goes to the bathroom, which is more of an excuse to check his phone in peace. He opens up Instagram and already sees the notification.

**_harrystyles_ ** _started following you 1m_

He’s already got a hundred more followers so he changes his profile to private and then goes over to Harry’s profile. He’s got 30 million followers and doesn’t seem to be as active as Louis would have expected, just the occasional concert photos and photos with family. The follow requests start piling up so he turns off his notifications for Instagram. He’s got 700 followers (836 now) and he doesn’t need any more people who don’t know him to start monitoring everything he does. And this is all happening just because Harry merely followed him; the fact that they kissed is still unknown to the public.

Louis really hopes it stays that way.

“Five million likes on a photo, as _if_.” Louis mutters to himself as he scrolls through Harry’s profile.

The most recent picture is of him on stage at Coachella two days ago and the description reads _‘Coachella you did not disappoint!’_

A guy comes out of the toilet so Louis goes in and leans against the wall as he continues creeping.

There’s a photo of his moth tattoo from a year ago and even though there’s no description or location, Louis can tell that the photo was taken in his tattoo parlor because he can recognize the walls.

He spends two more minutes on Instagram, re-watching his stories and then follows Harry back before he leaves the toilet.

“Who was that?” Harry asks as soon as Louis sits down.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“It was your sister wasn’t it?”

Louis rolls his eyes. “Stop being cocky.”

“Did you tell her about the concert tickets?”

Louis shakes his head. “Oh, no way. I want to see her face when I give them to her.”

Harry’s eyes light up at that, dimples on display, and Louis really wishes it wouldn’t end.

Post-festival feelings are the worst.

“Harry we have a plane at twelve tomorrow, I think we should be heading out.” Liam reminds him, but doesn’t make the effort to stand up and initiate their leave.

“Yeah bro, we have to be up early as well.” Zayn agrees, looking at Louis.

“Do you want me to walk you to your tent?” Harry asks Louis, who looks over at Zayn. Zayn nods and closes his eyes for a moment in reassurance.

“Yeah, sure.”

Louis says goodbye to Liam and then everyone else by shaking their hand, before they’re both on their way to the exit.

On their way to the tent, Harry reveals that he also doesn’t want this to end.

“Yeah, but you’re getting to perform next weekend too.”

“But you’re not going to be here.” Harry corrects him and Louis melts. “I tried getting you and your sister Coachella tickets but it was all sold out.”

“Oh, you’ve done enough as it is, thanks.”

They reach Louis’ tent, only to find out that there’s yet another party unraveling in the camping grounds, but Louis just wants Harry to be his for a little while longer until he has to jet off to wherever.

“So where are you flying tomorrow?”

“Japan. I’ve got a concert and some interviews to do there.”

“Wow, Japan. Seems like a whole other world.”

Harry nods as Louis focuses on getting the numbers right on the lock. Leave it to Zayn to use a fucked up code like 826 instead of 000 or 123.

“It is a whole other world. I love it there, people are really nice and quiet.”

Louis finally gets the lock undone before he turns to Harry.

“Do you uh-want to come in or?”

“Sure, I can spare a few more minutes for you.” Harry smiles and Louis’ stomach does a backflip at the thought of being in a confined space with one of the hottest guys on the planet.

Louis goes in first and Harry takes the flashlight without even being asked to do so in order to point it at Louis’ luggage.

He takes out his Nike shorts and then starts gathering his stuff.

“So how much did you pay for the whole festival?”

“Including drinks and everything it was around a thousand pounds. Would’ve been more if I had listened to Zayn and paid for the VIP tickets.” Louis laughs, thinking about it.

“So you came here determined to get into the VIP area?” Harry asks.

“No, I came here determined to have fun.” Louis corrects him and pulls off his pants to change into his sleeping shorts.

“And did you succeed?” Harry continues, even though they both know the answer.

Louis looks up at him from here he just changed into his shorts. “Definitely.” He breathes and Harry licks his lips before he surges forward and kisses him.

Louis doesn’t waste one second before he straddles him and lays him down, ready to do literally _anything_ just to get Harry to stay a little bit more.

It’s been such a great weekend and he’s never been more disappointed about a festival coming to an end.

Harry’s phone starts ringing just as Louis manages to get off his shirt, and Harry tries to ignore it for as long as he can until it starts ringing the third time in a row.

“I really need to-“ Harry breathes into Louis’ mouth, catching his lips for another second, “-I really need to answer it, it’s Liam.”

Louis pulls back but doesn’t get off his lap as Harry checks his phone screen to see three missed calls from Liam and two messages.

“I _really_ wish I could stay here for…a really long time but I can’t.” Harry says and he looks genuinely devastated about the situation, which matches Louis’ feelings as well.

“Oh, yeah I understand.”

The phone starts ringing again so Louis finally gets off Harry’s lap to let him check if he left anything behind before he leaves.

“Hello?” Harry answers the phone and then double checks the inside of the tent before he pulls the zipper down. “Yeah, I’m on my way. Ten minutes.”

Louis follows him out of the tent.

“Yeah yeah, five minutes then. I’ll be there soon.”

Louis can hear that the call is still going and that Liam is talking to Harry, but Harry has the phone a few inches away from his ear as he stares at Louis.

“I really need to go, fuck.”

Louis sadly smiles at him, trying to ignore everything that’s going on in his stomach.

“But you’ll come to the concert, okay?” Harry states more than asks and Louis nods. It’s still weeks away and maybe Lottie will want to go with someone else anyway, but for now he settles on nodding and promising Harry that he will be there.

“Alright, I’ll see you then. Have a good flight home.” Harry adds, because of fucking course he has to be a gentleman until the very end and make Louis scream internally even harder.

He places a soft kiss to Louis’ lips and then walks off.

Louis watches him walk away, staring at his back until he can’t be seen anymore, before he turns around and gets back into the tent.

Zayn comes back ten minutes later with Niall’s phone number and the news of an already planned outing with Niall and his group next week in London.

“Are you okay? You’re silent.” Zayn observes after they’ve turned off the flashlight and got into their sleeping bags.

“Yeah just…” _just the fact that I’m sad because of something that lasted three days and never had a future anyway_ “just some…PFD.”

“PFD?”

“Post-festival depression.” Louis clarifies.

“Ah. Yeah, me too. Remember how you didn’t even want to come because of the costs?”

Louis nods to no one in particular.

“But it was worth it though, right?” Zayn asks.

Louis takes his fingertips to his lips, which are still burning from the kisses he’s received. “Definitely. Thanks man.”

Zayn knows Louis, so he knows very well not to ask any questions about Harry since Louis hasn’t initiated a discussion about the topic.

Because even if he’d want to talk about it, he can’t. How could he, really? How could he say, even to his best friend, that he had so much fun with someone _so_ out of his league who he’ll probably never see again?

Louis has to get through the phase of denial, where he keeps lying to himself about the fact that the wrong time and place are the reasons it was only meant to last for three days. 

But the truth is that Harry didn’t even ask for a phone number, and that’s okay, because Louis also made a promise that he won’t keep.

He just has to stop lying to himself first.

**Author's Note:**

> I marked this work as part of a series, but I'm not sure whether I should continue it, even if it has an open ending. I'm thinking about making it a 3-part series, this being the first one. 
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> If you liked it, please make sure to leave kudos and if you'd like me to continue it and would be interested to read more, please leave a comment :)
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> Also, feel free to give me any ideas and tell me what you would like to see in the 'sequel' of this part :)
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> I also have other stories, which you can check out in my profile here or come say hi to me on [✩ Tumblr ✩](theboyfriendstagram.tumblr.com)


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